Telegraph sale continues as Barclay family bids higher
Lloyds Banking Group is reportedly pressing on with the imminent auction of the Telegraph newspaper and The Spectator magazine even as their former owner has proposed a higher offer to woo them back.
The Barclay family have submitted a new offer of around £1bn to repurchase their papers, after several recent attempts, according to the Financial Times.
This is significantly more than the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine are expected to fetch, with analysts estimating around £600m.
The right-leaning papers were put up for sale after their parent organisation B.UK, owned by the billionaire Barclay family, was forced into receivership when it failed to pay over £1bn in debts to lender Lloyds.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs and law firm Linklaters were appointed to advise on the sale. The highly-anticipated auction is set to begin in the coming weeks.
While shadows hang over the unknown source of funding for the Barclays, concerns about foreign investors have been raised privately by government officials.
A spokesperson for the Barclay family said: “The family continues to work on finding a mutually acceptable resolution with Lloyds Banking Group regarding the media assets.”
Lloyds declined to comment. Morning Wire was unable to contact the Barclay family for comment.