The owner of the Daily Mail has tapped Middle Eastern investors about potentially backing his bid for the Telegraph, the second prospective suitor known to have turned to the oil-rich region for financial support in a forthcoming auction of the leading Conservative newspaper.
Lord Rothermere, the owner of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) media group whose brands include the Daily Mail, MailOnline, Metro, the i and New Scientist, confirmed it had held talks but not reached a formal agreement with any investor from the region.
The auction of the Telegraph and Spectator titles, led by Goldman Sachs on behalf of Lloyds Bank, is expected to formally start in the coming weeks.
Rothermere, who took DMGT private in 2021, has previously considered a plan to acquire the Telegraph as part of a consortium, although the structure of any takeover deal would be likely to trigger plurality and competition investigations by regulators.
Sean Walsh, a spokesperson for DMGT, said: “Over the past few years we have been approached and have had talks with a number of Middle Eastern investors who have shown an interest in participating in a bid for the Daily Telegraph. To date, we do not have a formal relationship with any investors.”
Walsh added that if DMGT was to pursue a bid with an investor from the region – the Financial Times reported on Thursday that talks have been held with Qatari backers – it would do so only if it had full control over the future of the Telegraph titles.
“We would only do so if we have the majority of economic and equity risk, and the control needed to invest in the business and protect its editorial independence,” he said.
Last week it emerged that the Barclay family had held talks with backers from the United Arab Emirates in their attempt to regain control of the Telegraph newspaper group.
The family has made a number of offers to buy back the newspapers after being forced to surrender the debt-laden business to Lloyds Banking Group, offering to rebuy the £1bn debt they owe the bank for £600m.
Lloyds, which intends to launch the formal sale process for the Telegraph titles in the coming weeks, has also held talks about the future of Very, the financial and retail group controlled by the Barclays.
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay paid £665m to knock out rivals and secure ownership of the titles in 2004, but a fall in print sales and a squeeze on advertising revenues for newspapers in general has reduced their value. The titles had a book value of £140m in the latest financial results filed by the Barclays.
However the prestige of owning such trophy titles and the rarity of a sale of a crown jewel British media asset, particularly one with such strong links and influence with the Conservative government, is likely to result in a premium-priced bidding battle.
David Montgomery’s National World, the listed company that owns titles including the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post, and Sir William Lewis, the former News UK and Telegraph senior executive, have also declared an interest in entering the bidding process.
Other potential bidders include: the Brexiter and hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall, a big backer of GB News; the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský; and Axel Springer, the German owner of the tabloid Bild, which lost out to the Barclays in 2004 and tried to buy the Financial Times in 2015.
Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, the owner of the Times, Sunday Times and the Sun, is also understood to be interested in the sale process. However, its scale in the national newspaper market all but rules out a deal to buy the Telegraph on competition grounds, though Murdoch could add the Spectator to his UK portfolio.
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The prestige and influence of owning the titles was always likely to draw significant foreign interest. However, Lloyds and its investment bankers will be well aware of the risks some suitors pose.
Almost 15 years ago, the billionaire Alexander Lebedev acquired the Evening Standard and the Independent – becoming the first Russian oligarch and former member of a foreign intelligence service to own a major British title, in deals that failed to trouble UK regulators.
However, times have changed, and three years ago the government launched an investigation into the sale of stakes in the Independent and the Evening Standard, which are now part-owned and owned respectively by Alexander’s son Evgeny, to an investor with strong links to Saudi Arabia.
The then culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, had been unconvinced by Lebedev’s guarantees that editorial independence would not be compromised.
While that investigation did not go ahead, after the competition appeal tribunal ruled that the government had issued its intervention notice too late, some believe the government’s move set a precedent that Lloyds and its investment bankers will be mindful of when the bids roll in.
Media regulator Ofcom subsequently published a report following the sale of the stakes looking at public interest concerns relating to freedom of expression and accurate news reporting at the Evening Standard, but not the digital-only Independent which it did not define as a “newspaper” in UK legislation. Ofcom concluded that no in-depth investigation was warranted on accuracy or free expression grounds following the sale of the stake by Lebedev.
Culture secretary Nicky Morgan, who replaced Wright and had to decide whether to pursue an investigation, said the Ofcom report went a “considerable way” in satisfying her concerns, and that based on its conclusions she would not have referred the case to a phase two investigation.”