Daily Mail owner DMGT said at the weekend it had struck a £500 million pound or $650 million deal to buy rival newspaper, The Telegraph, in a tie-up that would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain.

The deal comes a week after U.S.-based private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners withdrew its bid for The Telegraph, one of Britain’s biggest newspapers, a Reuters report said.

A RedBird-IMI joint venture had acquired the Telegraph Media Group and The Spectator magazine in 2023, only for the then government to intervene and ban foreign state investment in UK newspapers.

RedBird then sought approval from the government to proceed with the acquisition under a revised structure, with Abu Dhabi-backed IMI participating as a minority investor capped at 15 per cent, the report said.

A source close to RedBird said that the regulatory clearance process had been slower than expected, contributing to doubts about the timeline and feasibility of the acquisition. Sustained internal opposition from senior figures within the Telegraph newsroom had prompted it to walk away.

The Financial Times, which first reported the DMGT deal, said the price had been set at about 500 million pounds to repay the money spent by the RedBird-fronted consortium.

The parties have entered a period of exclusivity to finalise the terms of the transaction and to prepare the necessary regulatory submissions, which they expect to happen quickly, DMGT said in a statement.

Source: Arisetv