A publisher from the United States has entered the auction to purchase The Daily Telegraph at the last stages.
The New York Sun owner, an American website with a right-leaning news agenda, expressed interest in acquiring the Sunday Telegraph and broadsheet.
Semafor reported that Dovid Efune was bidding on behalf of hedge fund manager Michael Lefell’s family office and Oaktree Capital.
Efune has owned Manhattan’s Sun newspaper since 2021. He made a presentation on Wednesday to Telegraph management. The Telegraph has asked him to make a second round offer by the end of this month.
According to The New York Sun’s website, the former Telegraph owner Lord Black is a founding director and a columnist. Sky News quoted a source as saying on Thursday that Black “still loved” the paper and was likely contacted about Efune’s bid.
In 2004, Sir Frederick Barclay and Sir David Barclay, who died in 2003, acquired a stake in Black’s publishing group Hollinger.
A long-running dispute between the Barclay family and Lloyds Bank about outstanding debts totaling £1.2 billion has led to their loss of control over the newspaper.
Efune has bid for The Telegraph, after politicians prevented a takeover by RedBird IMI. The firm is backed by Abu Dhabi. RedBird’s deal was criticized because Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan is the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates and deputy prime minister.
Politicians blocked RedBird IMI’s takeover bid of The Telegraph citing ownership rules by a foreign country.
Efune is one of many bidders, including hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall and GB News owner David Montgomery.
Redbird, who sold The Spectator Magazine for £100,000,000 to Marshall as part of this week’s auction, wants to recoup £500,000,000 from the sale.
Anna Jones, chief executive officer of Telegraph Media Group and Telegraph Media Group’s chief executive, sent an email on Thursday to the staff updating them on the process.
Jones stated that “after the initial receivership of The Spectator in June last, the sale was conducted as an independent process from ours.” Both processes were overseen by RedBird IMI, and their external advisors.
“In relation to the TMG sale I and some members of the executive team met with potential bidders including National World, and a US-based consortium, in order to present a management presentation that outlines our editorial and financial position.
The process is ongoing, and it’s our understanding that there are still other bidders in the process who haven’t been revealed yet. We do not yet know the length of time it will take to move on to the next phase, but will let you know as soon as I receive more information.
The New York Sun was contacted to provide a comment.
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