(London) The media group of the British daily The Daily Telegraph, one of the flagship titles of the press across the Channel, owned by the Barclay family since 2004, was put up for sale on Friday to pay off heavy debts.
“The boards of directors of the parent companies of Telegraph Media Group Limited and Spectator Limited announce that their advisors will launch [Friday] the sale process of each of these companies,” according to a press release from the Telegraph Media Group.
According to several British media, the bank Goldman Sachs is managing this operation.
Lloyds Bank and its subsidiary Bank of Scotland indicated in June that they intended to put the group up for sale to repay unpaid debts.
Earlier in October, the Barclay family attempted, unsuccessfully, to make a last-minute bid to repay debts totaling around a billion pounds ($1.7 billion Canadian) and regain control of the group, which also includes the Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator, according to the British press.
According to a source close to the matter joined by AFP, the German press group Axel Springer, publisher of the tabloid Bild, is one of the potentially interested buyers, as is the Telegraph’s competitor, DGMT, parent company of the right-wing tabloid. The Daily Mail.
According to analysts cited by the PA agency, the sale of the Telegraph’s assets could bring in around 500 million pounds (831 million Canadian dollars).
Lloyds had appointed receivers from consultancy AlixPartners in June, while publishing activities continued as normal.
AlixPartners reported in June that Howard and Aidan Barclay had been removed from their positions as directors at the Telegraph Media Group and The Spectator magazine.
Twin brothers Frederick and David Barclay (the father of Howard and Aidan Barclay, who died in 2021), bought the group’s newspapers in 2004 for 665 million pounds ($1.1 billion Canadian).
