Peel in £88m bid for Pinewood Shepperton

PEEL Holdings has launched a £87.8m takeover bid for the film studios Pinewood Shepperton.

In a statement to the stock market on Friday evening Pinewood said Peel – already a major shareholder with a 29.78% stake – had offered 190p a share.

“This approach may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company. A further announcement will be made in due course,” said Pinewood, which is famous for the production of James Bond and Harry Potter films.

The company issued the statement following a 14% spike in its share price to 181p. Pinewood has studios in Pinewood in Buckinghamshire, and Shepperton and Teddington in Middlesex,

Peel, which agreed a £1.6bn deal to sell the Trafford Centre to Capital Shopping Centres in January, is responsible for developing MediaCity at Salford Quays which will be home to BBC North and new facilities for ITV.

The business, led by John Whittaker, has assets worth £6bn which include the Manchester Ship Canal, Mersey Docks, a share in Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and the 1,000-acre Hulton Park estate near Bolton.