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Daily Mail and General Trust plc said on Saturday that the talks
were designed to finalize the terms of a 500 million-pound
($654-million) deal to buy the Telegraph from an Abu
Dhabi-backed venture known as Redbird IMI.
The proposed transaction comes after concerns about foreign
ownership of British news organizations stalled Redbird IMI’s
efforts to take control of the Daily Telegraph and its sister
Sunday publication two years ago.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would review any new
acquisition to ensure it protects the public interest and
complies with legislation governing “foreign state influence” in
media mergers.
DMGT said it expected to complete the transaction “quickly.”
“Under ownership the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand,
just as the Daily Mail has,” Chairman Jonathan Harmsworth, also
known as Lord Rothermere, said in a statement.
The battle over ownership of the Telegraph, a fixture on
Britain’s media landscape since 1855, began in 2023, when the
Barclay family lost control of the company in a dispute with its
lenders.
In November of that year, a venture between New York-based
RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments
said it had agreed to acquire the Telegraph in exchange for
loans that would allow the Barclays to repay their debts to
Lloyds Banking Group.
But that deal triggered a debate in the House of Commons about
the dangers of foreign influence over Britain’s news media — and
by extension the national political debate.
The previous government, led by Conservative Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak, quickly announced plans to review the proposed
deal.
“It would not be appropriate for a foreign state to interfere
with the accurate presentation of our news or the freedom of
expression in newspapers,” then-Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer
said at the time.
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