Axel Springer’s Telegraph takeover given government green light
The years-long saga over the Daily Telegraph’s ownership is poised to reach a conclusion, after the government announced it had approved Axel Springer’s offer for the broadsheet newspaper.
The German publishing giant, which owns Politico, Business Insider and the Bild tabloid, said on Tuesday that Britain’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport had given it the green light to press ahead with its £575m deal to buy the Telegraph Media Group.
Axel Springer took much of the UK media industry off-guard when it tabled a shock bid for the right-leaning news organisation last month, trumping an earlier offer from the owner of the Daily Mail.
Daily Mail General Trust (DMGT), which is run by the Rothermere family, had inked a £500m deal in principle last year. The deal would have brought two of the UK’s largest right-of-centre newspapers under one roof for the first time in British history, but became mired in regulatory scrutiny over competition concerns.
Axel Springer lines up US expansion for Telegraph
Mathias Döpfner, chief executive of Axel Springer, said: “We are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition. After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in The Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth.”
The Berlin-headquartered publisher has promised “significant” investment in the Daily Telegraph’s journalism, and is reported to be eyeing up a major push into the US for the paper.
Axel Springer’s ministerial rubber stamp paves the way for the 200-year-old newspaper to formally come under its ownership within weeks, bringing an end to a chaotic succession that has seen the group buffeted around between a string of failed bids.
The Barclay Family’s decades-long proprietorship was brought to a sudden end when its news group, which then included current affairs magazine The Spectator, was seized by Lloyds as payment for debts the family owed to the high-street lender.
The bank then launched one of the most high-profile media auctions in recent history, which was won by Redbird IMI, a joint venture between American buyout giant Redbird and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund.
But the consortium’s bid was then blocked by the then-Conservative government, meaning The Telegraph was put up for auction again. Several other suitors tabled unsuccessful bids, before the DMGT met Redbird IMI’s £500m asking price.
The approval also extinguishes any speculation that culture secretary Lisa Nandy might order an investigation by the media regulator Ofcom, a process that could have taken six weeks or more.