Pinewood Shepperton Takeover Completes

LONDON – U.K. studio facilities group Pinewood Shepperton is under new ownership after British property group Peel Holdings finalized its long-gestating takeover plans.

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An existing stakeholder, Peel upped its stake securing 71.1 percent of the British studio group’s shareholding.

It means the home of the world famous 007 stage and the current production base for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is now controlled by Peel. Shepperton is currently housing Universal-backed 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Carl Erik Rinsch.

The group will remain on the London Stock Exchange though, as Peel would have had to have secured a 75 percent stake to delist the group from the stock market.

Peel Holdings is a chaired by billionaire property developer John Whittaker.

Peel’s proposed takeover had been referred to the Office of Fair Trading to find out if the purchase would require scrutiny by the U.K. Competition Commission.

The OFT said no and the deal went ahead. Peel upped its stock holding from 13,766,500 shares to 33,574,818 in the deal paying £2 ($3.20) a share, putting the market price for the business at £96.1 million ($153.5 million).