Clyde Port Authority

The Peel Group

Type	Private
Industry	Infrastructure, Land and Property, Ports, Transport, Media
Founded	as Peel Mills (1920–71) as Peel Holdings (1971–2004) as The Peel Group (since 2004)
Headquarters	The Trafford Centre, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Number of locations	North West England
Key people	John Whittaker (Chairman)
Total assets	£6.6 billion (2011)
Owner	John Whittaker (75%) The Olayan Group (25%)
Number of employees	5,000
Divisions	14 divisions Peel Advertising Peel Airports Peel Energy Peel Environmental Peel Hotels Peel Industrial Peel Land Peel Media Peel Offices Peel Ports Peel Property Peel Residential Peel Utilities
Website	Peel Group Website

The Peel Group (commonly known by its former name Peel Holdings) is one of the UK's foremost privately-owned investment enterprises, embracing a broad range of sectors - land and property; transport and logistics; retail and leisure; energy and media.

Peel's extensive real estate assets consist of 850,000 square metres (9 million square feet) of investment property and over 13,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of land. Peel is one of the largest property investment companies in the United Kingdom, and has its UK head office at the intu Trafford Centre, in Greater Manchester.

The Trafford Centre, which opened in 1998, is widely regarded as Peel's first landmark development. The centre was sold in 2011 to Capital Shopping Centres (now Intu Properties) for £1.6 billion, making it the largest property acquisition in British history and the biggest European property deal of 2011. The transaction involved exchanging shares in The Trafford Centre for a shareholding in Capital Shopping Centres. Other projects which Peel have developed include MediaCityUK, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, Gloucester Quays and Frodsham Wind Farm.

The Group is led by John Whittaker, who maintains a 75% majority stake in the group, with the Olayan Group owning a circa 25% stake. The Group is a key supporter of the Government's vision to rebalance the country's economy and establish the north as a 'global powerhouse'.

Peel has identified 150 projects across its investment portfolio, including the £50 billion Ocean Gateway development which sits within its Northern Powerhouse agenda and in 2015 launched a consultative document 'Peel in the Northern Powerhouse', which encourages a fresh dialogue between business, Government and other Northern-based partners. Demonstrating its commitment, Peel became a member of the Government's Northern Powerhouse partnership programme in October 2016.

Between 1971 and 1987, the Group's founder, John Whittaker, acquired Peel Mills, John Bright's and The Manchester Ship Canal Company. John Whittaker was born in Lancashire, and many of his ancestors were involved in the cotton industry, property and quarrying. In 1980, the company changed its name from Peel Mills to Peel Holdings to reflect its status as a property investment company.