UK minister aims for 'timely sale' of Telegraph to Daily Mail owner

[LONDON] British culture minister Lisa Nandy said on Monday she aimed to clear the way for a “timely sale” of The Telegraph newspaper for £500 million (S$854 million) to Daily Mail owner DMGT without further delay.

“My intention is to build a constructive path toward a timely sale, without further delay, that is in the public interest,” Nandy said in a written ministerial statement, two days after DGMT agreed to buy the broadsheet.

The Telegraph has been in limbo since 2023 when RedBird IMI – a joint venture between US-based RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments – tried to buy it, but it was unable to take control when Britain banned foreign state ownership of newspapers.

DMGT and RedBird did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A revised plan limiting IMI to a 15 per cent stake also failed amid slow regulatory clearance and internal opposition from Telegraph journalists, prompting RedBird to withdraw on November 14.

On Saturday DMGT agreed to buy Telegraph Media Group from RedBird IMI.

DMGT said the deal would comply with Britain’s Foreign State Influence regime, introduced last year to block foreign state control of UK newspapers, as there will be no foreign state investment in the funding structure.

Nandy said that, given how long the process had already taken, she expects DMGT’s formal request for approval to be submitted within three weeks.

The acquisition would bring the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph under the same umbrella as the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro, The i Paper and New Scientist.

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DMGT said The Telegraph would remain editorially independent. REUTERS