A transatlantic consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners has struck a deal to buy Britain’s Telegraph newspaper, the title reported today, spending £500m to secure control.
The ownership of the right-leaning broadsheet has been in flux after the Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI bought the Telegraph titles and the Spectator magazine in 2023, before Britain’s then government moved to ban foreign state investment in British newspapers, forcing it to sell.
The Telegraph said the US private equity firm RedBird Capital, which provided a quarter of RedBird IMI’s funding, is moving to take direct control and is expected to be joined in the ownership group by British media investors.
The ownership of the Telegraph, one of Britain’s best known newspapers which strongly backed the country’s vote to leave the European Union, has raised questions about the independence of the media and foreign states buying political influence.
Britain’s previous Conservative government last year banned foreign state investment in British newspapers, blocking RedBird IMI, run by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker and with the majority of its funding from Abu Dhabi, from owning the Telegraph.
However, the UK government said earlier this month that it proposed to allow foreign state-owned investors to own up to 15% of British newspaper publishers.
The Telegraph said no final agreements were in place and regulatory hurdles would loom.
“We believe the UK is a great place to invest, and this acquisition is an important part of RedBird’s growing portfolio of media and entertainment companies in the UK,” Gerry Cardinale, the founder of the US private equity firm, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
