DEVELOPER Peel will pursue a £612m bid – with fellow consortium members – for Forth Ports later this month.

The group, which owns Liverpool John Lennon airport, the Port of Liverpool, Manchester Ship Canal and Manchester’s Trafford Centre, is part of the Northstream consortium which has tabled two offers to Forth Ports that have both been rejected on the grounds that they undervalue the group.

But the Forth Ports board has agreed to meet with consortium members in their role as owners of a 27.4% shareholding in the ports group after publication of Forth’s annual figures on March 22.

Northstream comprises Peel, fund manager Arcus Infrastructure Partners, and RREEF Infrastructure which is part of Deutsche Bank’s asset management division and holds a 49.9% stake in Peel Ports Group.

RREEF also owns shares in ports in Australia and Germany.

Peel is said to be planning to fund its part of the takeover by selling a majority stake in its airports division.

Last year, Peel announced it was seeking prospective partners for its airports arm.

And, early in February, LDP Business revealed Peel was in talks with Canadian airport operator Vancouver Airport Services over the sale of a substantial stake in its portfolio which includes airports in Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester and Doncaster.