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The offer of 350 pence per share for the owner
of London's Canary Wharf financial district was launched to
Songbird shareholders by QIA and U.S. investor Brookfield
Property Partners on Thursday.
The hostile move followed Songbird's rejection of an initial 2.2
billion pound ($3.43 billion) approach, saying it did not
reflect the full value of the company or its growth potential.
Songbird has yet to formally reject the improved terms.
In a statement on Monday QIA said that Madison had written a
letter to Songbird saying it intended to accept the offer before
its closing date.
Madison holds a total of 18,627,054 Songbird shares,
representing approximately 12 percent of Songbird's shares in
free float and 2.5 percent of Songbird's issued ordinary share
capital.
Taken together with backing from fellow shareholder Third Avenue
Management, QIA has so far received public support from holders
of about 28 percent of Songbird's free float, it said.
Shares in Songbird were up 0.6 percent in early deals on Monday,
outperforming a 0.4 percent lower FTSE All Share index.
(This version of the story has been corrected to show offer to
shareholders followed rejection of initial bid in the third
paragraph; removes reference to hostile bid)
(Editing by David Goodman)
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