John Whittaker (businessman)
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John Whittaker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 March 1942[1] Bury, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Chairman, the Peel Group |
| Spouse | Patricia Whittaker |
| Children | 4[2] |
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John Whittaker (born 14 March 1942) is a British billionaire. He is chairman of the Peel Group, a property business that mainly invests in North West England. Although publicity-shy, he has been described as one of the most influential business leaders for Greater Manchester and the North West by the Manchester Evening News (2007),[3] and was named the most influential northerner by The Big Issue magazine in 2010.[4]
Whittaker was born to Jack and May Whittaker in Bury, Lancashire in 1942. He was educated at Prior Park College, a Catholic boarding school in Bath, Somerset, and considered becoming a priest before deciding to join the family business.[5]
Career
In the 1980s he fought a bitter battle to take over the Manchester Ship Canal Company, out of which the Trafford Centre emerged.[6]
Whittaker's Peel Group sold the 1.5m sq ft Trafford Centre to Capital Shopping Centres (now Intu Properties) in January 2011. Under the terms of the deal, which valued the Manchester scheme at £1.6 billion, his company, Peel, took shares in CSC worth £636m and he joined its board as deputy chairman.[7] Whittaker resigned as deputy chairman in July 2020 following the company going into administration.[8]
In 2010, his wealth doubled from £1.01 billion to £2.07 billion,[9] mainly thanks to the £1.65 billion sale of the Trafford Centre.[9]
In 2013, Peel Group started an Ocean Gateway project, aiming to transform 50 miles of industrial land between the Port of Liverpool and Salford Docks into a £50 billion redevelopment called “Ocean Gateway”.[10] Whittaker hoped the Manchester development would become a Chinese business hub. He accompanied the Prime Minister on his trade mission to Beijing in 2010.[citation needed]
In June 2019, The Sunday Times reported that Peel was liquidating stakes in Peel Ports and Liverpool airport to cover losses at Intu Properties where Peel Group owned 27.3%.[6]