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The culture secretary has cleared Axel Springer’s £575m takeover of the Telegraph, paving the way for the end of almost three years of uncertainty over the ownership of the titles.
Lisa Nandy said that she does not believe there are grounds to intervene and refer the deal to the media regulator, Ofcom, for an in-depth regulatory investigation.
The culture secretary has the power to call in mergers for further scrutiny on public interest grounds, as well as the new foreign state influence regime.
“I am currently not minded to intervene in this merger under either regime on the basis of the evidence available to me at this time,” she said. “This is without prejudice to my ability to intervene in this merger within the applicable statutory time limits, if new or additional information comes to my attention.”
While the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals in Ireland and Austria, Axel Springer said that the expected all-clear in the UK means it expects to complete the deal by the end of June.
“We are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition,” said Mathias Döpfner, the chief executive of Axel Springer. “After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in the Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth.”
The Telegraph titles will add to Axel Springer’s media portfolio, which includes Europe’s biggest newspaper, Bild, Politico and Business Insider.
Döpfner, who was trumped by a blockbuster £665m offer for the Telegraph by the Barclay brothers in 2004, tabled the offer for the titles last month in a move that scuppered a rival deal from the owner of the Daily Mail at the 11th hour.
He has promised that the editorial independence of titles is “sacrosanct”, and has backed existing executives including the Telegraph’s editor, Chris Evans, the editor of its sister Sunday paper, Allister Heath, and the chief executive of Telegraph Media Group (TMG), Anna Jones.
Döpfner has pledged to invest in the Telegraph to make it the “leading centre-right media outlet in the English-speaking world”, with a rapid expansion planned for the US supported by the “significant expertise” of Politico and Business Insider.
Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) had been close to taking control of the Telegraph titles, having been given permission by the UK government to take over the right-to-buy option from RedBird IMI.
However, the German media group tabled a significantly superior offer to DMGT’s £500m deal, prompting the United Arab Emirates-backed group that controls the Telegraph to seek UK government approval to switch the permission to sell the right-to-buy option to Axel Springer.
Nandy has granted approval for that transaction to take place. She said: “I am pleased to be able to take these positive steps, which give greater certainty to the Telegraph and its staff.”
The sale of the newspapers was kicked off in 2023 when the Barclay family lost control of the group over £1.16bn of unpaid debts owed to Lloyds bank.
RedBird IMI – which is 75% controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE and the owner of Manchester City – took control of the publishing group after agreeing to pay the Barclays’ debts.
However, it was forced to put the titles back up for sale after the British government passed a law blocking foreign states or associated individuals from owning newspaper assets in the UK. There is now a 15% cap in place after the introduction of the foreign state influence regime.
A consortium led by Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, the junior partner in the RedBird IMI venture, tabled a £500m deal for the titles last year. However, it pulled out in November and DMGT struck its deal later that month.
TMG employs almost 900 staff, according to the most recent Companies House filing for 2024, with about 400 understood to be journalists.
GB News backer Sir Paul Marshall struck a £100m deal to buy the Spectator, which was also part of DMGT, in 2024.
In 2015, Axel Springer was pipped by an 11th-hour blockbuster £844m bid from Nikkei, Japan’s largest media group, to buy the Financial Times.
