Peel Group makes £583 million bid for Harworth

By the Editorial Team · Friday, August 7, 2026

Peel Group has made a £583 million bid to acquire Harworth Group and take the Yorkshire-based property developer private, offering a 20.1% premium on its recent share price. If accepted, the deal would delist Harworth from the London Stock Exchange, allowing Peel to address financial challenges and pursue more efficient development strategies away from public market pressures.

Peel Group, an infrastructure and property investment firm majority-owned by Manchester billionaire John Whittaker, has made a £583 million offer to acquire Harworth Group, a Yorkshire-based property developer, and take it private. The bid, valued at 172.5 pence per Harworth share, represents a premium of approximately 20.1% over Harworth’s closing share price as of August 5, and about 36.9% above the company’s average share price over the previous month.

Peel Group currently holds close to a 30% stake in Harworth. The acquisition would result in Harworth’s delisting from the London Stock Exchange if the offer is accepted. Harworth’s shares surged by around 24% following the announcement, reaching their highest price in nearly a year.

Harworth, headquartered in Rotherham, has its origins in the property division of UK Coal and manages roughly 15,000 acres of land across more than 100 sites predominantly in northern England and the Midlands. The company specializes in the development of industrial, logistics, and strategic land projects. It recently disclosed plans for a new hyperscale data centre and is reportedly in advanced discussions to sell a site intended for artificial intelligence data centre development, following a £106.6 million data centre sale to Microsoft in 2024.

Peel Group highlighted concerns about Harworth’s financial sustainability, noting that escalating administrative costs and rising net interest expenses have made the company’s cash flow increasingly fragile. The offeror described Harworth’s current stock market listing as providing limited benefits and pointed to a long-standing structural discount to net asset value for the company’s shares.

Peel suggested that Harworth could operate more efficiently and strategically under a private ownership model focused on selective development and land activities, which have lower costs and are better executed away from public markets. The group also emphasized the lack of new equity issuance by Harworth in the past nine years and expressed skepticism about the company’s ability to raise capital effectively if it remained publicly listed.

Harworth has characterized the offer as unsolicited and is carefully reviewing its terms with advisors. The company has advised its shareholders to take no immediate action while the evaluation is underway. Harworth’s board noted that it had no substantive engagement with Peel prior to the bid’s public announcement.

John Whittaker, Peel Group’s founder, is a notable figure in UK property and infrastructure investment, credited with developing the Trafford shopping centre and other regeneration projects in northern England. Peel itself has been private since 2004 and has interests spanning land, property, logistics, transport, and low-carbon energy.

The proposed acquisition comes amid broader consolidation trends within the UK property sector, with recent deals including the takeover of real estate investment trust Segro by U.S. firm Prologis. If completed, Peel’s bid would mark another significant transaction in the evolving landscape of UK property development and infrastructure.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.