Daily Mail owner looks to Middle Eastern backers over Telegraph bid
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.
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, has held talks but not reached a formal agreement with any investor from the region.
The auction of the Telegraph and Spectator titles, which is being 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 takeover the Telegraph as part of a consortium, although the structure of any takeover deal would trigger plurality and competition investigations.
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 backing 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.
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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 possibly entering the bidding process.
Other potential bidders include: the Brexiter hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall, a major 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.