Qatar Could Own 9% of Brookfield In Canary Wharf Takeover
The Qatar Investment Authority and Brookfield Property Partners announced today that they'd upped their bid to $4B for Songbird Estates, the majority owner of London's Canary Wharf financial district. That's 33.6% higher than Songbird's closing share price on Nov. 5 before the announcement of the initial bid. On top of that, Bloomberg reported that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund said it would buy up to 9% of Brookfield in the JV transaction.
With $170B in assets the QIA is emerging as one of the larger state funds making a real estate splash. Its takeover bid hit a snag recently over a potential conflict of interest regarding Rothschild’s Alex Midgen, Songbird's advisor in the deal who was appointed to the company's board by a major investor.
