Canadian fund to back Brascan bid for Canary Wharf

The Ontario Teachers fund has emerged as one of the backers for the Brascan Corporation’s £1.6bn bid for Canary Wharf, it was reported yesterday.

The fund has £28bn of assets under management and has reportedly agreed to invest about £100m of equity alongside two other backers, British Columbia Asset Management and Hermes.

Brascan and its advisors, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, are working on a formal offer for the Docklands developer, expected to be made within 10 days.

The corporation’s chances of success have grown recently after former Canary Wharf Chairman, Paul Reichmann, withdrew from the bidding last week. Brascan had originally agreed to back his bid, but Reichmann has now pledged his 9% stake in the company to Brascan.

Brascan is likely to make a bid of at least 267p per share for the Docklands developer, in order to trump a 265p-per-share offer by a consortium led by Morgan Stanley and including Canary Wharf’s largest shareholder, Simon Glick. Morgan Stanley then has the right to launch a counterbid.

Source: Freeman News

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