Daily Mail owner DMGT said on Saturday it had struck a 500 million pound ($650 million) deal to buy rival newspaper The Telegraph in a tie-up that would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain.
The deal comes a week after US-based private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners withdrew its bid for The Telegraph, one of Britain’s biggest newspapers.
A RedBird-IMI joint venture had acquired the Telegraph Media Group and The Spectator magazine in 2023, only for the then-government to intervene and ban foreign state investment in UK newspapers. RedBird then sought to formally request approval from the government to proceed with the acquisition under a revised structure, with Abu Dhabi-backed IMI participating as a minority investor capped at 15%.
A source close to RedBird told Reuters that the regulatory clearance process had been slower than expected, contributing to doubts about the timeline and feasibility of the acquisition. Sustained internal opposition from senior figures within the Telegraph newsroom had prompted it to walk away.
The Financial Times, which first reported the DMGT deal, said the price had been set at about 500 million pounds to repay the money spent by the RedBird-fronted consortium.
Continue reading the complete article on the original source
