Peel mops up minority Ship Canal holding
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE BATTLE for control of the Manchester Ship Canal Company moved closer to a conclusion yesterday after nearly 10 years of wrangling, writes Tom Stevenson.
Peel Holdings, the company controlled by the property developer and Olympic bid promoter John Whittaker, finally wooed MSCC's biggest minority shareholder with an offer almost six times higher than its original approach in 1987. The shares rose from pounds 21.50 to pounds 26.50.
Nicholas Berry, the former owner of the Harraps dictionary business, has shrugged off two previous offers for his 10 per cent of ordinary shares and 7 per cent of preference shares.
However, he plans to accept a scheme that could see him receive as much as pounds 33.50 per share, or pounds 21.6m.
He and the other minority shareholders will receive pounds 23 in cash per share and a further pounds 7 in zero coupon loan notes from Peel, which already owns 82 per cent of the company. Those notes are repayable at a rate of pounds 10.50 each either after five years or within nine months of approval being gained for a 300-acre retail park in south Manchester.
Mr Berry first took a stake in MSCC 10 years ago when he felt the company's water-side land holdings were undervalued by the stock market. Before accepting Peel's offer, he had rejected the original offer of pounds 6.25 for the ordinaries and pounds 3 for the prefs and a follow-up bid 18 months later of pounds 20.70 and pounds 9.30 respectively.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments