Peel seeks full control of Harworth with £583m cash bid

The offer is to acquire the remaining shares in the Yorkshire-based regeneration specialist, with Peel arguing the business would be better positioned as a privately owned company under its full control.

Peel’s roughly 30% ownership of Harworth is through its subsidiary Goodweather Holdings, with the company now offering 172.5p per share in cash for the remaining equity.

The offer represents a 20.1% premium to Harworth’s closing share price on 5 August and a 36% premium to its three-month volume-weighted average share price.

If successful, the deal would see Harworth delist from the London Stock Exchange and become wholly owned by Peel.

Peel said it believes Harworth’s portfolio of industrial and logistics property and strategic land would be “best owned, managed, and developed” within its own business.

In outlining its reasons for the bid, Peel argued Harworth has traded at a persistent discount on the stock market and that its listing now provides limited strategic benefit.

The group also questioned Harworth’s current business model, claiming rising administration and borrowing costs are placing pressure on cash generation.

According to Peel, Harworth’s administrative expenses reached £36.3m during 2025, while net interest costs increased to £10.6m, compared with passing rental income of £14.7m.

Peel also highlighted what it described as modest returns in recent years, noting Harworth has delivered annualised total accounting returns of 4.2% over the past four financial years.

The company said Harworth’s development-led strategy is becoming increasingly capital intensive and argued the business should instead focus more heavily on strategic land promotion and selective development within a private ownership structure.

Peel added that Harworth’s concentrated shareholder base, with its three largest investors controlling around 75.7% of the company, has reduced the benefits of remaining publicly listed.

The offer values Harworth’s entire issued and to-be-issued share capital at approximately £582.9m. Peel said it will fund the acquisition from existing cash resources.

Should the acquisition complete, Peel intends to undertake a strategic review of the business over the following six months.

The group said this could include restructuring head office functions, simplifying management and governance, accelerating selected asset disposals, and reviewing opportunities to integrate Harworth with Peel’s existing property platforms.

Peel also said the transaction is expected to lead to “significant headcount reductions” through the removal of overlapping roles and the elimination of costs associated with Harworth’s listed status, although no decisions have yet been made on the number of jobs affected.

Harworth, headquartered in Rotherham, owns more than 15,000 acres of land across the North of England and the Midlands, with the potential to deliver more than 35m sq ft of employment space and enable around 29,000 homes. The business reported revenue of £129.7m and profit after tax of £9.5m for the year ended 31 December 2025.

Under UK takeover rules, Peel’s offer is conditional on securing acceptances representing more than 50% of Harworth’s voting rights. As it already owns the aforementioned 30%, it only needs to convince enough additional shareholders to push its holding above the 50% threshold and allow the takeover to proceed.

The takeover bid comes hot on the heels of an announcement made by Harworth yesterday, that it is close to securing a sale for a second hyperscale data centre site on powered land within its portfolio. Harworth was contacted for clarification on where the site is located, but has not yet confirmed.

Harworth said it has entered advanced negotiations with several counterparties for the sale of the site, which benefits from planning consent and power connections, and has the potential to deliver total value gains which, it says, would be ahead of the group’s first hyperscale data centre transaction – a £106.6m land sale to Microsoft in 2024, for a 424,000 sq ft facility at Skelton Grange on the outskirts of Leeds.

Peel’s links with Harworth stretch back almost two decades. The group was a major shareholder in UK Coal, from which Harworth emerged as a standalone listed regeneration and land business following UK Coal’s restructuring in 2014.

Responding on the London Stock Exchange on 6 August, Harworth noted it has received “an unsolicited firm offer”, and said: “The Board has had no substantive engagement with Peel Pepper or Peel about any offer before their announcement today.

“The Board is reviewing the terms of the Offer with its advisers and a further announcement will be made as appropriate.

“In the meantime, shareholders are strongly advised to take no action.”

Harworth has been approached for further comment.