Publisher of US-based The New York Sun launches effort to buy The Telegraph
The publisher of US news website The New York Sun has launched a fresh effort to buy The Telegraph with the backing of a Brexiteer businessman.
Dovid Efune is hoping to purchase The Telegraph with the backing of Jeremy Hosking, a former Tory donor who went on to bankroll the Reclaim Party.
A previous takeover fronted by Mr Efune failed to meet a deadline to raise financing last December.
The takeover saga has been ongoing for almost two years.
It emerged last week that Labour will allow the United Arab Emirates to own up to 15 per cent of The Telegraph.
Efforts to take control of The Telegraph by RedBird IMI, an investment vehicle mostly backed by the UAE, had been blocked by an outright ban on foreign state ownership.
RedBird Capital, the US private equity firm which provides the minority of the funding to RedBird IMI, is understood to be preparing a deal to become the controlling shareholder in The Telegraph.
IMI and other investors are expected to take minority stakes in a transaction worth more than £500 million.
Mr Hosking supported Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party to the tune of £10 million at the end of 2021.
He backed Tory candidates in 2017 before giving a six-figure sum to Nigel Farage's Brexit Party ahead of its victory at the European elections in 2019.
At last year's general election campaign, he made £5,000 donations to four Tory candidates in exchange for backing the Reclaim Movement's 'four-point commitment to culture'
A source familiar with conversations said Mr Efune 'has been working quietly over the past months and has now secured commitments from a group of backers amounting to a significant bulk of the equity capital required'.
The source added he would travel to London next week for conversations and hailed what would amount to a 'British bid' for The Telegraph.
Mr Hosking said: 'I fully support the Efune bid as they are appropriate owners of this British asset, and have already offered financial backing. If it succeeds I am confident I will be significantly involved.'
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