Axel Springer: deal to acquire Telegraph for £575 million
The German group surprisingly reached an agreement to buy the Telegraph Media Group, which publishes the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegaph
LONDON - Axel Springer is taking home a piece of British journalism history. The German group surprisingly reached an agreement to buy the Telegraph Media Group, which publishes the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegaph, for £575 million in cash.
The move spoils the plans of the Daily Mail & General Trust (Dmgt) group, which controls the popular tabloid Daily Mail and had long been trying to take over the Telegraph despite the misgivings of the British government, which feared a concentration of titles in the same hands to the detriment of media plurality.
London eventually gave the green light to Dmgt, but too late: RedBird Imi, which controls the Telegraph, preferred Axel Springer's bid because it was higher than the £500 million offered by Dmgt and not subject to antitrust problems.
RedBird Imi is controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates and owner of the Manchester City football team, but had to put the Telegraph up for sale because British law does not allow foreign countries or ministers of foreign countries to own more than 15% of a newspaper, magazine or other media.
Two years ago, Axel Springer, which owns the Bild magazine and the daily Die Welt in Germany as well as Politico and Business Insider, signed an agreement with the private equity giant KKR that allows the group to have the resources to make acquisitions.
