Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, with Canada’s Brookfield, is preparing a multi-billion pound takeover of Canary Wharf owner Songbird.
Shares in Songbird, which owns a majority stake in the Docklands site, jumped by 20% yesterday to 316p on news of the dea, valuing it at £2.3bn after the market closed.
The Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) already owns swaths of London’s prestigious property, including a majority stake on the Shard, Chelsea Barracks, Harrods department store and the Olympic Village in Stratford, east London. Ten days ago it agreed to buy HSBC’s global headquarters in Canary Wharf for £1.1bn.
Qatar already owns a 28.6% stake in Songbird, while Brookfield, the Canadian investment group, owns 22%of the Canary Wharf development. Should the two buy out the rest of Songbird’s shareholders they would own 91% of the financial hub.
Analysts have said a bid should be for 350p per share, valuing Songbird at £1.6bn.
Any deal will require the approval of Songbird’s biggest shareholders, Simon Glick, who owns 25% of the company and China’s Investment Corporation, which holds 15.8% through its Land Breeze holding company.
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