John Whittaker's Peel Group has refinanced the vehicles that own Intu shares in the aftermath of the collapse of £2.9B plans to buy out the Merry Hill Centre and Trafford Centre owner and shopping centre giant.

Whittaker, whose Peel Group owns 29.3% of Intu shares, is restructuring his shareholding, The Times reports.

The business borrowed against the shares held in three special purposes vehicles according to research by Jeffries, The Times said. Loan to value ratios were around 65% in December 2017 when shares were hovering around 200p each. Today Intu shares are more than 40% down on the year, hovering around 115p. Intu shares have rallied slightly since the announcement on 29 November that a consortium led by Peel would not pursue its takeover bid for Intu.

The consortium was offering 210p a share.

After several extensions of the deadline, the consortium of Peel Group, Saudi Arabia's Olayan Group and Brookfield Property decided not to submit a formal bid.

This follows the failure earlier in the year of Hammerson’s bid for Intu, valuing the company at £3.4B, which would have meant a substantial payout for Peel.