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RedBird IMI has received bids for the Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine from media groups including National World and News UK as well as British investors Paul Marshall and Lord Maurice Saatchi.
The Daily Telegraph and Spectator sale, whose deadline for first-round bids closed on Friday, attracted close to 20 interested parties, including private equity investors and individual billionaires, according to people briefed about the matter.
However, not all were expected to bid by the deadline, they said, with at least seven bids registered for the titles on Friday, but more expected before and during the weekend.
RedBird IMI — the Abu Dhabi-backed investment group whose bid for the British broadsheet was blocked by the former Conservative government, which was concerned about foreign state ownership of a national broadsheet — put The Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine back on the market and hopes to sell the assets for at least £600mn.
The fund, which is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Gerry Cardinale and former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, expects a competitive race for the British media assets, said those close to the sale process.
Media groups including Belgium’s Mediahuis, Rupert Murdoch’s News UK and UK-listed National World have registered interest alongside investors and wealthy individuals including Lord Maurice Saatchi, the Conservative peer, and hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall.
Some bidders have expressed interest for both the Telegraph titles and the magazine, while others just want to buy one or the other, they said. The second round of the process is not expected until September, people close to the process added, meaning that the sale was likely to stretch into the fourth quarter of 2024.
About six buyout groups have been interested in either funding a bid or leading a consortium of buyers to acquire The Telegraph. Private equity groups are also considering backing the existing management in a buyout, according to two people familiar with the situation.
While CVC has weighed up options, the private equity group is unlikely to make a bid or participate in financing a future deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. CVC declined to comment.
Murdoch is only interested in the Spectator, for example, while others are in talks about whether to join forces through combined bids. Marshall has made separate bids for the newspaper and the magazine, people close to the situation added. Well known former Tory politicians have also been approached to work on bids, according to people familiar with the process.
The Spectator is more likely to end up in the hands of a billionaire who is politically aligned with the conservative magazine’s editorial line, people close to the process said, and is also more likely to be sold quickly if separately.
On Friday, the exact make-up of the different bidding consortiums had not been finalised, they added.
RedBird — the US private equity group founded by Cardinale in 2014 and which recently backed the takeover of media giant Paramount by Hollywood independent film studio Skydance — is also prepared to buy the titles if the offers made are below what it paid to take control last year.
RedBird would need to buy out its partner, IMI. The Abu Dhabi-backed group’s involvement caused a political furore earlier this year, given concerns among MPs over ownership of British media by overseas governments. RedBird itself has no such issues.
Multiple bidding groups have raised questions over whether a sale of the Telegraph and Spectator will be able to meet the £600mn threshold. Alice Enders, a media analyst at Enders, said that it was “a stretch to justify £600mn” for the whole group.
However, others close to the process pointed to the Telegraph’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2023 of £59.8mn, up from £46.8mn in 2022, as a sound financial basis for investors.
RedBird IMI has yet to examine all the bids, which are being collected and analysed by its boutique investment banking advisers Robey Warshaw and Raine. RedBird IMI, Robey Warshaw and Raine all declined to comment. News UK and a spokesperson for Marshall declined to comment. National World declined to comment. Lord Saatchi was not immediately available for comment.
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