The owner of The Daily Mail, a leading UK tabloid, struck a £500 million ($654 million) deal with US-UAE consortium RedBird IMI for the purchase of The Daily Telegraph newspaper, The Daily Mail and General Trust said Saturday.
“DMGT has signed an agreement with Redbird IMI over the acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group at a valuation of £500 million,” DMGT said in a press release sent to AFP.
The DMGT’s potential purchase of its rival 170-year-old British newspaper could make it one of the biggest right-leaning media groups in the UK, and is likely to face scrutiny from the competition regulator.
It comes a week after US investment group RedBird Capital Partners abruptly abandoned its takeover attempt, reigniting uncertainty over the paper’s future and extending a protracted sale marked by government intervention.
DMGT, which also owns national British newspapers Metro and The i Paper, said it would enter a period of exclusivity to finalize the terms of the transaction, which the parties “expect to happen quickly.”
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It said the deal would give “much-needed certainty and confidence” to the staff at the newspaper, whose sale has been in limbo for over two years.
The publisher said it plans to “accelerate” The Telegraph’s international expansion, with a focus on the United States, and that The Daily Telegraph would remain editorially independent from the other titles.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail newspapers are displayed for sale in London, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, had struck a deal for TMG in late 2023.
However, the previous UK Conservative government triggered a swift resale amid concern over the potential impact on freedom of speech, given Abu Dhabi’s press censorship record.
The Tory government also amended merger laws to bar foreign powers from controlling UK newspapers.
Takeover saga
Following the failed joint bid, the most recent deal agreed in May would have given RedBird a majority stake and IMI a 15 percent stake, British media reported.
But that deal also came under scrutiny from human rights and freedom of expression groups over links between RedBird’s chair and China’s largest sovereign wealth fund.
“DMGT and RedBird IMI have worked swiftly to reach the agreement announced today, which will shortly be submitted to the Secretary of State,” a spokesperson for RedBird IMI said.
Founded in 1855, The Telegraph was bought by twin brothers Frederick and David Barclay in 2004 for £665 million.
Number One Canada Square, the home of the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London, January 19, 2004. (AP/Dave Caulkin)
Widely known as the “Tory bible,” the newspaper was put up for sale in 2023 by British bank Lloyds to pay off the Barclay brothers’ debts, plunging the paper’s future into question.
DMGT was one of the bidders in the original auction for the newspaper, which also reportedly fielded competing offers from hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, who owns media group Unherd and right-wing TV channel GB News.
Last year, TMG agreed to sell British right-wing magazine The Spectator to Marshall for £100 million.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will “review any new buyer acquiring The Telegraph in line with the public interest and foreign state influence media mergers regimes set out in legislation,” her department said in a statement.
DMGT Chairman Jonathan Harmsworth said, “I have long admired the Daily Telegraph… The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and best quality broadsheet newspaper, and I have grown up respecting it.”
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