Telegraph finally finds buyer in US firm Redbird

The buyer, reportedly paying £500m, is RedBird Capital Partners, which was already a part owner of TMG alongside the United Arab Emirates’ International Media Investments (IMI), which will retain a stake of up to 15% in the company. RedBird has reportedly held talks about bringing in potential co-investors including Lord Rothermere’s DMGT, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

How much long-term ­exposure RedBird’s founder, American ­financier Gerry Cardinale, wants to the British newspaper business is unclear. He is regarded as more of a sports and entertainment guy, owning AC Milan and a stake in the company that owns Liverpool FC. Jeff Zucker, the veteran American media ­executive and former boss of CNN, has been Cardinale’s key executive at RedBird on news and media deals. He forged the original plans to revitalise the Telegraph brand, including building its presence in the US and growing its multi-media operations, particularly TV.

Dovid Efune, the British-born publisher of The New York Sun, insists his rival offer to the RedBird deal is “now within sight of the finish line, with the bulk of the needed funding committed”. Industry insiders think it highly unlikely that he can raise the money to bring TMG back to the table. In two years no one has been willing to meet the owner’s valuation of TMG, except its part-owner, which may say a lot about market perceptions of its value.

This week’s sale followed a plan to change the law that started the process in the first place. The original purchase of TMG by the Emirati-led group inspired a patriotic backlash that ended with the then Conservative government legislating to prohibit foreign nations or associated individuals from owning UK newspaper assets. This put important foreign noses out of joint. Culture, media and sport secretary Lisa Nandy recently proposed revising the law to permit foreign state ownership of up to 15%.

Photograph by James Manning/PA Wire