Canary bidder 'seeking backers'
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LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) -- U.S. bank Morgan Stanley is looking for partners to help it raise its bid for British property firm Canary Wharf to 293 pence per share, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper says, quoting a bid team executive.
Morgan Stanley, whose bid vehicle Silvestor is in a battle for Canary Wharf with Canadian conglomerate Brascan Corp, said Friday it was holding talks over possible changes to the structure of its 275 pence per share offer.
Morgan's £1.6 billion ($3.04 billion) offer is structured as a scheme of arrangement, a fast-track way of merging that needs 75 percent of shareholder votes to pass.
Were it to switch its bid to a normal tender offer, it would require 50 percent of shareholder votes. But sources close to the situation say changing the offer structure is no easy task.
The Sunday Telegraph quoted an unnamed executive working on the Silvestor bid as saying: "In extremis we could switch to a 50 percent offer but we are working on sticking with a scheme of arrangement and getting to 293p."
Brascan this week raised its offer for Canary Wharf to 275p per share and said its new offer had the backing of U.S. fund Franklin Mutual. Franklin has said it agreed to back Brascan unless someone comes in with an offer of 292p or higher.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
