Ritika Janiya
It remains to be seen who will win the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, but the action is heating up, as bidders have only hours left before a Thursday deadline to consider the second round of offers for the British national. And all eyes will be on Dovid Efune, an American owner of the New York Sun, on Friday evening. End.
But he’s not the only player in the game. Sir Paul Marshall, the high-profile backer of GB News and recent acquirer of the Spectator, was earlier viewed as the favourite. Earlier this month, Marshall made news after acquiring the Spectator magazine in a deal worth £100 million. Now, he leads a group of investors that include Ken Griffin, the American billionaire and founder of Citadel, a large hedge fund.
Interestingly, Marshall’s Spectator recently appointed former cabinet minister Michael Gove as its new editor. He has taken over from Fraser Nelson, who took on the position in 2009. Still, rumors are circulating that Marshall himself might not make an offer. Still, he may team up with another at the last minute.
There are, allegedly, four major bidders going for the auction before the looming deadline. They comprise Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail owner who has expressed renewed interest in buying over the Telegraph titles.
Dovid Efune: The Dark Horse
The most interesting competitor against Marshall seems to be Dovid Efune, which has appeared on the scene as a potential dark horse. Three years ago, Efune seized the digital assets of the New York Sun and then began pushing to make his mark in the media world. His efforts are backed by some of the significant financial players around, such as Oaktree and Hudson Bay Capital, two major U.S. investment funds. On his side are the Beedie Group, the real estate developer based in Canada and Michael Leffell, a hedge fund manager that also runs a successful family office.
In fact, one of the pluses Efune has over Marshall is that he does not currently control any media outlets in the UK, which would serve as a good way to avoid associated political or regulatory problems. This might make him appear safer in the eyes of regulators and gives him a real edge in this high-stakes competition.
Regarding Efune, should he win, it is speculated that this will re-open the doors to connect with a former owner of some the Telegraph titles, Conrad Black. The latter was convicted of fraud in 2007 and spent several years behind bars. Fortune changed for him in 2019 when former U.S. President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon.
Another shadow player is the RedBird IMI group, bankrolled by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, owner of the Manchester City football club and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. RedBird IMI, through RedBird Capital Partners, last November paid an eye-watering £600m to win sole control of Telegraph Media Group from the Barclay family.
That’s when the deal hit a roadblock. Questions regarding competitive balance and freedom of the press required UK regulators to intervene, especially after the British government legally intervened seeking legislation that would bar foreign interests from owning newspapers in the United Kingdom. RedBird IMI was subsequently compelled to put the titles of the Telegraph titles back up for auction only months after acquiring them. It also threw their ownership of the Spectator, which they managed recently to sell for an astronomical price, off the rails.
That would mean that RedBird IMI must garner at least £500 million from the selling of the Telegraph titles to cover their initial investment. According to reports, Dovid Efune is set to offer around £550 million which can surely trounce RedBird IMI’s asking price cozily. However, the ceiling of the bid by Marshall remains not so sure.
What’s Next?
Of course, with the deadline looming, all eyes are on these major players to see who will walk away with control of the Telegraph. Both Marshall and Efune bring different things to the table-most specifically, Marshall has experience in the UK media, and Efune comes with financial power and a cleaner regulatory slate.
The winner of the auction, therefore, will not only be coming to assume the two of Britain’s most famous newspapers but will also have the behemoth duty of changing the course of the media landscape in Britain. The auction is crucial to the Telegraph since it will later on determine its future course and influence in the UK.
We wait for now to see which of the bidders will make the winning move. Will it be Marshall, relying on his experience and contacts in the UK media scene? Or will Efune, the owner of the New York Sun, secure a massive foothold in British journalism? The competition is fiercer than ever as the clock ticks down.
