Whittaker emerges with 4% stake in Land Securities

Peel Holdings owner John Whittaker has built a £260m stake in Land Securities, the UK's largest property group, using an offshore company, Albright Investments.

Albright has declared a stake of more than 4% in Land Securities, making Whittaker one of the three largest shareholders in the property group after Barclays and Legal & General.

Through Peel, Whittaker owns 25,000 acres of development and investment land in the North West, as well as the ports of the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company, the Manchester Ship Canal, Trafford Centre and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Whittaker also has large stakes in Pinewood Shepperton studios and UK Coal.

Land Securities trades at a discount to its net asset value of about 25%, and is is currently pursuing a break-up of its three business units into retail, London offices and outsourcing arm Trillium.

All parties declined to comment.