Zucker to Meet Telegraph Executives amidst Government Investigation Looming | Business News
The former CNN president Jeff Zucker is set to hold discussions this week with executives at The Daily Telegraph’s publisher amidst growing controversy over the Abu Dhabi-backed takeover deal he is leading.
Sky News has learned that Mr. Zucker, the head of RedBird IMI, will travel to London as expectations rise that the government will initiate a public interest investigation into its potential acquisition of the broadsheet newspaper.
A source close to RedBird IMI indicated that Mr. Zucker will likely not engage in direct discussions with ministers or Whitehall officials due to the quasi-judicial nature of the potential investigation that could be launched in the coming days.
Last week, he stated to the Financial Times that other parties interested in owning the Telegraph titles and The Spectator magazine were attempting to undermine the RedBird IMI deal by “slinging mud and throwing darts.”
The Abu Dhabi-backed vehicle includes funding from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family and owner of Manchester City Football Club.
In recent weeks, MPs and peers with ties to the Conservative Party have expressed concerns about the ownership of two of Britain’s most influential newspapers by a foreign government.
Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, confirmed a Sky News report last week that she was “minded to” trigger a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN), which would lead to an investigation carried out by Ofcom, the media regulator.
RedBird IMI has emerged as the frontrunner to take control of the Telegraph by offering to repay £1.16bn owed to Lloyds Banking Group by the Barclay family, the newspapers’ long-standing owners.
The prospective owners have pledged to give a legal undertaking to the government that Sheikh Mansour’s IMI group would be a passive investor.
They would also establish a separate editorial advisory board to oversee the media assets.
Last Friday, Sky News revealed that Lloyds and RedBird supported a proposal to retain the Telegraph’s independent directors during the PIIN process.
Rival bidders led by hedge fund billionaire and GB News shareholder Sir Paul Marshall have been pushing for a government inquiry into a RedBird IMI deal.
Sky News reported last week that Ed Richards, the former boss of media regulator Ofcom, is acting as a lobbyist for RedBird IMI.
Flint Global, the business Mr. Richards co-founded with former Foreign Office mandarin Sir Simon Fraser, has been hired due to Mr. Richards’ history of involvement in government probes which have the power to block or unwind corporate deals.
The Telegraph auction has also garnered interest from the Daily Mail proprietor Lord Rothermere and National World, a London-listed local newspaper publisher.
A bid deadline this week has been postponed until 10 December.
Until June, the Telegraph newspapers were chaired by Aidan Barclay – the nephew of Sir Frederick Barclay, the octogenarian who, along with his late twin Sir David, orchestrated the takeover of the Telegraph 19 years ago.
Lloyds had been in discussions with Barclays for years about refinancing loans made to them by HBOS prior to that bank’s rescue during the 2008 banking crisis.
The family’s debt to Lloyds also includes some funding tied to Very Group, the Barclay-owned online shopping business.
A spokesman for RedBird IMI declined to comment.
