Telegraph’s £575m takeover by German group completed | Telegraph Media Group
European media group Axel Springer has completed its £575 million purchase of the Telegraph, ending three years of turbulent uncertainty over the future ownership of 172-year-old works.
The Germany-based company, which stunned the Daily Mail owner by launching a blockbuster bid at the 11th hour, said it has now received all regulatory approvals in the UK, Ireland and Austria to take full control of Telegraph Media Group (TMG).
“Today is a day we have been working towards for a long time and one we will always remember,” said Mathias Döpfner, the company’s CEO and controlling shareholder.
“Axel Springer and the Telegraph share strong commitments to freedom, values, a tradition of embracing and leading technological change, and an entrepreneurial will to actively shape the future.”
The 63-year-old, who has managed Axel Springer since 2002, was defeated by the Barclay brothers’ £665 million offer in his previous attempt to buy TMG in 2004. It also received an 11th-hour £844 million bid from Japan’s largest media group, Nikkei, to buy the Financial Times in 2015.
The Telegraph will join media brands including Europe’s best-selling newspaper Bild and Die Welt, as well as digital outlets Politico and Business Insider.
Döpfner said the Telegraph plans to leverage its digital assets to further its digital transformation and expand into the US. His stated aim is to invest in making the Telegraph “the leading centre-right media organization in the English-speaking world”.
“This lays a strong foundation to further accelerate our AI-powered digital transformation,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “Together we can lead the next generation of trusted media.”
Döpfner backs the current crop of executives, saying the editorial independence of titles is “sacred”: Chris Evans, the Telegraph’s editor-in-chief; Sunday Telegraph editor Allister Heath; and Anna Jones, managing director of TMG.
“We have a lot in common with Axel Springer,” Evans said. “We share the same values. We share the same vision and the same passion. We believe there are many opportunities to grow the Telegraph both in the UK and abroad.”
“After three difficult years of dereliction, we are looking forward to starting the engines and embarking on a new journey.”
The sale of the newspapers began in 2023 after the Barclay family lost control of the group over its £1.16bn outstanding debt to Lloyds bank.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture 75 percent controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, vice president of the United Arab Emirates and owner of Manchester City, took control of the publishing group after agreeing to pay Barclays’ debts.
However, the newspapers had to be put back on sale after the British government passed a law preventing foreign governments or associated persons from owning a newspaper presence in the UK. Following the introduction of the foreign state influence regime, a 15% cap is now in place.
A consortium led by RedBird IMI’s junior partner Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital offered a £500 million deal for the titles last year. However, it withdrew in November and the Daily Mail & General Trust reached a settlement later that month.
DMGT came close to taking control of the Telegraph companies as the UK government allowed it to take over the right-to-purchase option from RedBird IMI.
However, with Axel Springer offering a premium of £75 million over DMGT’s offer, RedBird was accepted by IMI through a straightforward regulatory process.
