Owner of Doncaster Sheffield Airport says 'no credible offer' received despite takeover speculation

Hopes have been pinned on the Middle East group seizing control as the airport prepares for its final flight later this week. But Peel have said this afternoon that it has had no details regarding the identity of the consortium and that they were ‘not in possession of what could be considered a credible offer.”

In a brief statement, a spokesman said: “In response to the speculation regarding the existence of a credible bidder for Doncaster Sheffield Airport, we can confirm that we are currently not in possession of what could be considered a credible offer. We have not been provided with the identity of the members of the proposed consortium.

“We also have no evidence as to the source or credibility of the interested party’s funding. Our initial due diligence has raised some concerns regarding the identity of the bidder consortium’s representatives which we have raised directly with Doncaster Council.

“We are continuing to engage with all interested parties that we have been introduced to by Doncaster Council.”

The statement is directly at odds with Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones who last week said: “A credible offer has been submitted to Peel by one of the interested parties we introduced to them.

“I then followed up with a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak requesting him to urgently step in, put pressure on Peel to suspend the closure whilst they seriously consider the offer that has been put to them and to save Doncaster Sheffield Airport.”