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US private equity shop Redbird Capital is “confident” of getting a deal for the Daily Telegraph newspaper over the line in just a few months, marking the end of the conservative broadsheet’s two-year hiatus without an active owner.
A source familiar with the negotiations told City AM that the uncertainty continuing to swirl around the Telegraph could be brought to an end in “the next couple of months”, after the American dealmaker emerged as an unlikely suitor earlier in April.
The investment behemoth, which was founded by billionaire Gerry Cardinale and has $12bn’s (£8.9bn) worth of assets under management, formed part of the joint venture that took control of the publishing group in November 2023, Redbird IMI, the majority of which was funded by a state-backed IMI.
But the former Conservative government blocked the purchase, due to the consortium’s links to a foreign state, plunging the paper into a limbo status where no owner had executive control.
Redbird – a New York-headquartered private investment firm that counts AC Milan and Paramount Global-bidder Skydance Media among its flagship investments – is now in the driving seat to take control of the 170-year-old paper after several other bidders fell away.
The little-known publisher of the New York Sun, Dovid Efune, blindsided much of the British media establishment when the Telegraph’s de facto owners, Redbird IMI, entered into exclusive negotations with him over an offer of more than £500m for the outlet in October. But he struggled to amass sufficient financial backing and the paper went back up for sale.
Others – including the National World publisher David Montgomery and former advertising kingpin Lord Saatchi – expressed an interest but refused to stump up Redbird IMI’s asking price.
The latest negotiations represent the nearest the Telegraph has been to finding a long-term suitor since they were seized from the Barclay family by Lloyds Banking Group in June 2023. According to The Guardian, Cardinale is personally involved in the negotiationg.
A spokesman for Redbird said: “Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners is evaluating the possibility of becoming the sole control owner of the Telegraph Media Group.”
