Acquisition Talks Underway

The owner of the Daily Mail is in talks to buy the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister title for £500 million, a deal that would finally end the more than two-year hiatus over their future.

Background on the Deal

DMGT confirmed that the company had entered exclusive negotiations to buy the broadsheet titles less than two weeks after their sale to a consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners failed. In a statement, DMGT said the exclusivity period for the merger of the two national newspaper groups would be used to "determine the terms of the transaction and prepare the necessary regulatory filings."

Regulatory Review

A deal to merge the Mail and Telegraph titles is subject to review by the competition regulator, with the Culture Minister also expected to be involved in the process. The RedBird-led deal collapsed after opposition from the Telegraph’s newsroom over alleged links by its chairman to influential Chinese state actors.

Previous Deal Attempts

Lord Rothermere, DMGT’s majority shareholder, had intended to acquire a minority stake of almost 10% in the Telegraph titles as part of the RedBird-led consortium. A previous deal proposed by a consortium of RedBird and Abu Dhabi state investment firm IMI collapsed after the government changed the law on foreign state ownership of national newspapers. Under the more recent deal, IMI would have owned a 15% stake – the maximum allowed.

Statement from Lord Rothermere

“I have long admired the Daily Telegraph,” said Lord Rothermere. “My family and I have an enduring love of newspapers and the journalists who produce them. The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and highest quality broadsheet newspaper and I grew up with that respect. It has a remarkable history and has played a crucial role in shaping the national debate in Britain over many decades.”

Investment Plans

“Chris Evans is an excellent editor and we intend to give him the resources to invest in the newsroom. Under our ownership, the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand, just like the Daily Mail.” DMGT said it planned to “invest significantly” in TMG with the aim of accelerating international expansion. “The focus is particularly on the USA, where the Daily Mail is already successful and has established editorial and commercial activities.”

Future Ownership

If the deal goes through, the Telegraph newspapers would be under the same ownership as titles such as Metro, The i Paper and New Scientist. A spokesman for RedBird IMI said: “DMGT and RedBird IMI have worked quickly to reach the agreement announced today, which will shortly be submitted to the Secretary of State.”