‘British bidder' for Telegraph vows to fight on
The leader of a bid to disrupt the £500m sale of The Telegraph to a consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners has vowed to fight 'to the very end'.
Dovid Efune, the publisher of The New York Sun website, made an appearance on Sky News on Sunday to insist that his 'British bid for The Telegraph is alive and well, and not going anywhere'.
Mr Efune has secured financial backing from the hedge fund manager Jeremy Hosking and Nadhim Zahawi, the former cabinet minister. They are attempting to contrast their Britishness with RedBird, an American private equity firm which is seeking to acquire The Telegraph alongside British minority investors.
Mr Efune faces a steep challenge. On Friday RedBird announced an agreement in principle to take majority ownership of The Telegraph from IMI, the UAE's media investment arm.
The British-born publisher said: 'What's been announced is an agreement in principle. And if the history of The Telegraph's ownership saga teaches us anything, it's that the ownership of The Telegraph and, frankly, any other crown jewel of British public life, will not be determined by means of a press release.
'The British public will yet have their say via their elected representatives, The Telegraph's staff and The Telegraph's readers will have their say, as will the rest of the British press.'
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird and the UAE, majority funded by the Gulf state, was blocked from taking full control of The Telegraph last year following an outcry over press freedom.
Now, RedBird's founder Gerry Cardinale is working to make RedBird the controlling shareholder, with IMI expected to retain a passive stake of up to 15pc.
Mr Efune said: 'There are quite a lot of questions surrounding RedBird themselves, obviously – where does their capital come from?'
Mr Cardinale, who also controls AC Milan and is set to become a major shareholder in the Hollywood studio Paramount, has said none of the money that RedBird will use to acquire The Telegraph will be drawn from sovereign sources.
Mr Efune added: 'I suspect that because of all of these questions that surround it, there will need to be a public interest intervention, likely an in-depth investigation, which means the saga of The Telegraph could take another year to resolve.'
Enders Analysis, a media industry research firm, said last week that Mr Cardinale's status as a newcomer to news publishing meant the regulatory process could be smooth and complete by September. The potential involvement of Lord Rothermere, the owner of The Daily Mail, as a minority shareholder alongside RedBird could complicate matters.
But it is unclear how in practice Mr Efune hopes to disrupt the sale. IMI has publicly endorsed RedBird's planned takeover of The Telegraph, saying it will 'secure its future and enable it to thrive for years to come'.
Mr Efune, who prior to acquiring the defunct New York Sun and reviving it as a subscription website was the publisher of Algemeiner, a Jewish community newspaper, has shown great persistence in his pursuit of The Telegraph, however. He emerged as the winner of an auction back in early October last year, but has struggled since to raise the necessary funds.
Even now, by his own account Mr Efune's consortium has only 'the bulk' of the capital, although he has said he remains in talks with potential backers.
His 11th-hour appeal for more time has come wrapped in the Union flag.
He said: 'At the end of the day, I expect that most Britons would want to see The Telegraph in British hands should there be a choice – and there is a choice, a clear choice, and we are 100pc committed to seeing it through.'
The approach won rhetorical support this weekend from Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative donor and publisher. In a post on X he said Mr Efune was 'seeking British investors for an alternative to foreign ownership … I wish him well'.
Mr Efune has not said whether he envisages the UAE retaining a stake and has not always been so focused on securing British finance. He initially sought to raise funding from American hedge funds. They all declined to invest in his proposed deal after he was named preferred bidder.
In November it was reported that Sir Mohamed Mansour, the Egyptian-born billionaire and former Conservative party treasurer, was in advanced discussions to bankroll the bid.
A former minister under the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, Sir Mohamed ruled out participating, following questions from The Telegraph. They covered topics including the regulatory scrutiny his political past and business interest might face.
Mr Efune then turned to Leon Black, the billionaire former boss of the Wall Street giant Apollo Global Management.
Mr Black pulled out of detailed discussions to back the bid after The Telegraph asked questions about potential regulatory scrutiny of his regrettable relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and legal problems related to it.
These incidents appear to have frustrated Mr Efune, who on Friday complained that the 'turbulent undertaking' of raising finance had faced 'unwanted interference'.
One possible tactic for Mr Efune's consortium is a legal challenge against the Government's handling of The Telegraph if and when it decides to approve the RedBird takeover. Mr Hosking is said by those who have worked directly with him to have an unusually strong appetite for litigation.
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