Private equity group , behind the Six Nations Rugby tournament as well as English Premiership Rugby, is considering making a bid to buy the Telegraph. The deadline for the auction for the newspaper group’s first round approaches this week.
CVC Capital Partners has yet to finalise its plans. It may not make a firm bid. The company, which manages €186bn in assets (£156bn), and floated €15bn in Amsterdam on Euronext, in April, is still working out the details of its plan.
CVC, one of Europe’s most well-known buyout companies, has stakes in major brands like Lipton Teas, and Swiss watchmaker Breitling. Lord Rothermere – the owner of the Daily Mail – had previously spoken to him about supporting a bid by David and Frederick Barclay for the Telegraph at the 2004 auction.
Rothermere withdrew from the auction last week out of fear that his newspaper group could be drawn into a complex and long battle in order to overcome political and competition hurdles.
According to reports, the CVC bid, first reported by The Telegraph, was structured to support the existing management team of the newspaper group.
CVC’s sports, media, and entertainment team is leading the interest of CVC. It has struck deals with top rugby clubs in Wales, Ireland and Scotland as well as Italy and South Africa. They also have media rights to La Liga, Spain’s top football league.
This week, it was revealed that Sir Paul Marshall – the libertarian who backs GB News, UnHerd and GB News – is also reconsidering a bid to buy the Telegraph on its own. Marshall may join a larger consortium to acquire the titles or limit his interest to the Spectator, which is part of the group.
Other names in the fray include David Montgomery’s media group National World; Lord Saatchi – a former Tory vice-chairman and co-founder at advertising group M&C Saatchi – and Belgian media group Mediahuis.
CVC has not stated whether it is interested in the entire media group (which includes the Sunday Telegraph) or only the Daily Telegraph and its website.
In June, the parent company Telegraph Media Group revealed that it had a loss last year. This was because it put aside almost £280m for loans given to the Barclay Family that may not be paid back.
The provision caused the group to lose £244.6m (£33.30m) in 2023, in spite of a strong financial performance.
RedBird IMI, the consortium supported by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed al-Nahyan – vice-president for the United Arab Emirates – and the US investment company RedBird Capital Partners, was required to put back the titles up for sale in April after the British Government published legislation that would block foreign states from owning newspapers assets in the UK.
RedBird IMI took over the Telegraph and Spectator magazines in December, when it repaid Barclay’s debts. This included a £600m credit against the titles.
RedBird IMI set a Friday night deadline for the first round of bids on Telegraph and Spectator titles. The final round will be held later this summer.
The consortium said that interest was “extremely high” and that it would consider selling the business to an entity managed by RedBird Capital, which would be compliant with the foreign ownership rules, if they cannot recover the £600m that they paid.
CVC has declined to comment.
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