Whittaker spends £8m on Intu shares

Peel chairman John Whittaker has continued to up his stake in Trafford Centre owner Intu Properties, spending £8.3m on shares over the past week.

Whittaker acquired 2.7m shares in three instalments between 20 March and 25 March at prices from 306p to 308p, taking his overall stake in Intu to 20%. This would increase to 23.96% if bonds were included. He now holds 194,802,358 shares in the company.

Whittaker has bought shares consistently in the mall group since Peel Holdings sold the Trafford Centre to Capital Shopping Centres in November 2010 for £75m and a 19.9% stake.

Intu Properties announced in February the launch of £110m additional bonds secured against the Trafford Centre.

Meanwhile, Whittaker also made intra-group transfers of shares totalling 3.85m between his Intu holding companies.

Shares in Intu were unchanged at 307p.