Daily Mail owner DMGT says signed £500m deal to acquire The Telegraph

LONDON: The owner of the UK tabloid Daily Mail struck a £500 million ($654 million) deal with US-Emirati consortium RedBird IMI for the purchase of The Telegraph newspaper, The Daily Mail and General Trust said Saturday.

“DMGT has signed an agreement with Redbird IMI over the acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group at a valuation of £500 million”, DMGT said in a press release sent to AFP.

The DMGT’s potential purchase of its rival 170-year-old newspaper could make it one of the biggest right-leaning media groups in the UK and is likely to face scrutiny from the competition regulator. It comes a week after US investment group RedBird Capital Partners abruptly abandoned its takeover, reigniting uncertainty over the paper’s future and extending a protracted sale marked by government intervenion.

DMGT, which also owns national newspapers Metro and The i Paper, said it would enter a period of exclusivity to finalise the terms of the transaction, which the parties “expect to happen quickly”.

It said the deal would give “much-needed certainty and confidence” to the staff at the newspaper, whose sale has been in limbo for over two years.

The publisher said it plans to “accelerate” the Telegraph’s international expansion, with a focus on the United States, and that The Daily Telegraph would remain editorially independent from the other titles.

RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, had struck a deal for TMG in late 2023.

However, the previous UK Conservative government triggered a swift resale amid concern over the potential impact on freedom of speech given Abu Dhabi’s press censorship record.

The Tory government also amended merger laws to bar foreign powers from controlling UK newspapers.

Following the failed joint bid, the most recent deal agreed in May would have given RedBird a majority stake and IMI a 15-percent stake, British media reported.

But that deal also came under scrutiny from human rights and freedom of expression groups over links between RedBird’s chair and China’s largest sovereign wealth fund.