A major funding milestone clears the path for a £500m Telegraph takeover, as the Daily Mail’s owner secures capital to move the deal forward and publicly outline its terms on Monday.
DMGT, the parent company of the Daily Mail, has agreed to finance the acquisition in two installments. An initial £400m will be funded through a higher drawing on its existing NatWest-backed debt and available company cash. The remaining £100m is planned to be paid within two years, most likely via a DMGT bond maturing in 2027, under arrangements reported by the Observer.
This week, DMGT is expected to present the financing details to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, so she has the information required to assess the deal. Regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom, will also review the proposed takeover.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners of the United States and International Media Investments of the United Arab Emirates, has controlled the Telegraph since 2023. The group was compelled to put the Telegraph up for sale last year after UK rules barred foreign state ownership of British newspaper assets.
Lord Rothermere has long sought to regain control of the Telegraph titles. If the bid succeeds, DMGT would fold the Telegraph titles into a portfolio that already includes Metro, the i Paper, and New Scientist, while DMGT already handles the Telegraph’s advertising contracts.
Under the proposal announced earlier, DMGT affirms that the Mail and Telegraph editorial teams will stay independent, with continued editorial autonomy and investment aimed at elevating the titles into a global brand.
The deal would, according to DMGT, bring much-needed certainty to Telegraph staff, who have endured a prolonged sales process that has stretched over more than two years. Other bidders remain active in the scene. Dovid Efune, owner of the New York Sun, is weighing a bid and has reportedly secured backing from Baltimore Sun owner David Smith, per the Financial Times. Efune has around £100m in support from Jeremy Hoskin, a Brexit-supporting businessman cited by the same source.
Efune, born in the UK, had previously engaged in talks to acquire the Telegraph last year, but those negotiations were reportedly derailed by funding difficulties.
