Songbird Estates shareholder Madison International Realty plans to accept Qatar Investment Authority's (QIA) improved offer for the Canary Wharf owner, the sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.

Songbird Estates shareholder Madison International Realty plans to accept Qatar Investment Authority's (QIA) improved offer for the Canary Wharf owner, the sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.

In a notice to the London Stock Exchange, QIA said on Monday that it has received a letter of intention from Madison International Realty communicating its intention to accept the offer before its closing date.

Madison holds a total of 18,627,054 Songbird shares, representing 12% of Songbird's shares in free float and 2.5% of Songbird's issued ordinary share capital. Together with fellow shareholder Third Avenue Management, a hedge fund which is also backing the takeover, QIA has so far received support from holders of about 28% of Songbird's free float, or 5.8% of its capital.

The improved and final takeover offer of 350 pence per share for the owner of London's Canary Wharf financial district was launched to Songbird shareholders by QIA and its North American JV partner, Brookfield Property Partners on Thursday.

Although the offer has not yet been formally rejected by Songbird, the London-listed company already said the offer 'does not reflect the full value of the company, its unique position and future growth potential'.

QIA's improved offer values Songbird at £2.6 bn (€3.3 bn) and follows the rejection of an initial £2.2 bn bid which Songbird regarded as too low.

Following the rejection of the first offer, Songbird said its pro forma adjusted net asset value at 28 November was 381 pence per share, a 19.2% increase over the previously published NAV at end-June 2014. The company owns 69.37% of Canary Wharf Group, while Brookfield holds 22.08%.

QIA, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, in turn, already owns 28.6% of Songbird. The sovereign wealth fund is also understood to be closing the acquisition of the HSBC Headquarters in London, having made a £1.1 bn offer for the tower, which is being sold by South Korea’s National Pension Service.

QATAR BUYS INTO BROOKFIELD
Also on Thursday, Brookfield announced that it had issued $1.8 bn (€1.4 bn) of exchangeable preferred equity securities in Brookfield to QIA. This gives the Qataris a 9% ownership stake in Brookfield, which is listed in New York and Toronto.

Brookfield's CEO Ric Clark stated, 'The placement of $1.8 bn of equity is a great endorsement of our global premier asset strategy. We are on the path to building the world's leading portfolio of best-in-class property assets. This capital will enable us to launch BPY to the next phase.'

QIA said, 'We are making this strategic investment in Brookfield Property Partners as part of our investment plan to diversify globally in the real estate sector. This transaction takes our existing institutional relationship with Brookfield Asset Management to the next level, establishing a global platform for us to continue our collaboration with Brookfield.'

In recent days Qatar replaced QIA's chief executive, Ahmed al-Sayed, with Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani.