US investor eyes Canary Wharf

NEW YORK - Paul Reichmann, the embattled director of the Canadian developer Olympia & York, has convinced a second American investor to join his bid to salvage the Canary Wharf project in London's Docklands, writes Larry Black.

Hyperion Partners, the mortgage-securities management group run by Lewis Ranieri, a former Salomon Brothers executive, is actively considering investing in the project alongside the New York investor Laurence Tisch, a source close to Mr Ranieri confirmed yesterday.

Mr Reichmann has been seeking equity investors to provide the estimated pounds 400m to complete the first stage of the pounds 3bn development, which has been in the hands of administrators since May. In June, Mr Ranieri helped Mr Reichmann find buyers for O&Y's 12 per cent stake in Hyperion, providing the firm's US arm with dollars 30m, allowing it to stave off probable bankruptcy in the US.

Best known as the father of mortgage-backed securities while at Salomon, Mr Ranieri left the firm in April 1987. Mr Reichmann provided him with an office and secretary at O&Y's New York headquarters and invested in his new partnership.

Mr Ranieri could not be reached for comment yesterday. Sal Ranieri, his brother and a partner in Hyperion, said the firm was 'looking at a lot of different things'. Hyperion has an asset- management group that oversees dollars 2.2bn of mortgage securities.