8. John Whittaker
Whittaker surges forth
£1,360m
Peel Holdings
2008: £1,300m (£60m)
The property market may be flat on its back but that has not stopped John Whittaker. In June 2009 he emerged as a 3% shareholder in Forth Ports, the quoted ports group. It follows his earlier stake-building in Land Securities, Britain's largest property group, in June 2008, now worth around £300m.
Whittaker, 67, has also upped his stake in UK Coal, Britain's biggest coal mining group, to 28%, valued at nearly £49m.
But his main focus of late has been the North West. Here, he has huge land and infrastructure holdings around the Manchester Ship Canal. He wants special planning powers granted to speed up his vision of a £50bn Ocean Gateway development along the canal.
The low-key Whittaker nearly became a Catholic priest but went into the quarrying business before moving into property. In the 1980s, he came to the City's attention when he fought a long and sometimes bitter battle to take over the Manchester Ship Canal Company.
It owned the land on which his hugely successful out-of-town shopping complex, the Trafford Centre, is built. Whittaker has branched out into other areas including ports, airports and alternative energy.
He took his Peel operation private in 2004 and, soon after, split up his empire into separate companies. His two main firms had £2.07bn net assets in 2007‑08. Whittaker's share of the net assets is £1.14bn.
His other assets, including personal property and the quoted stakes in LandSec and UK Coal, should take him to £1.27bn.