In the first quarter of 2013, a little-known real estate secondaries investor bought a small stake in the majority owner of Canary Wharf Group, Songbird Estates. That deal, as with most of those previously undertaken by New York-based Madison International Realty, went unnoticed in London. But 18 months later, in the midst of a hostile takeover battle for Songbird, Madison found its name in headlines around the world as it became the second shareholder to publicly back Brookfield’s and the Qatar Investment Authority’s revised offer for the company, despite the board’s insistence that the bid failed to reflect fair value.
