The private equity group behind the Six Nations tournament and English Premiership Rugby is considering a bid for the Telegraph, as the deadline for the first round of the auction of the newspaper group approaches this week.
CVC Capital Partners, which manages €186bn (£156bn) in assets and is planning a €15bn flotation on Amsterdam’s Euronext this year, has not finalised its plans and may not submit a firm offer.
CVC – one of Europe’s best-known buyout groups, with stakes in big brands such as Lipton Teas and the Swiss watchmaker Breitling – previously held talks with the Daily Mail owner, Lord Rothermere, about backing a bid for the Telegraph in the 2004 auction won by David and Frederick Barclay.
Last week, Rothermere pulled out of the auction over fears his newspaper group would be pulled into a long and complex battle to allow any takeover to overcome competition and political hurdles.
The potential bid by CVC, which was first reported by the Telegraph, is said to be structured to back the newspaper group’s existing management team.
CVC’s interest is being led by its sports, media and entertainment team, which has also struck deals to take significant stake in the United Rugby Championship, which features top rugby clubs from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and South Africa, as well as the media rights for La Liga, Spain’s top football league.
It emerged this week that Sir Paul Marshall, the libertarian backer of GB News and the UnHerd website, is also reconsidering his interest in submitting a standalone bid for the Telegraph. Marshall could seek to join a broader consortium to take over the titles, or narrow his interest to an acquisition of the Spectator magazine, which is also part of the group.
Others in the frame include David Montgomery’s media group National World, Lord Saatchi, a former Tory co-chair and co-founder of advertising group M&C Saatchi, and the Belgian media group Mediahuis.
It is unclear whether CVC’s interest extends to the whole media group, which also includes the Sunday Telegraph, or just the core Daily Telegraph title and website.
In June, it was revealed that the parent company Telegraph Media Group tumbled into the red last year after it set aside nearly £280m to cover loans made to the Barclay family that might not be repaid.
The group said that, despite a resilient financial performance, it had made losses of £244.6m in 2023 – against profits of £33.3m in the previous year – because of the provision.
In April, RedBird IMI – the consortium backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, and the US investment firm RedBird Capital Partners – was forced to put the titles back up for sale after the British government published legislation to block foreign states or associated individuals from owning newspaper assets in the UK.
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RedBird IMI in effect took control of the Telegraph newspapers and the Spectator magazine in December when it repaid the Barclay family’s debts, including a £600m loan against the titles.
RedBird IMI has set a deadline of Friday night for first-round bids for Telegraph and Spectator titles, with a final round of bidding later in the summer.
The consortium has said interest is “extremely strong” but indicated that it could seek to hive off the business to another entity managed by RedBird Capital that would comply with foreign ownership rules if it cannot recoup the £600m it has paid.
CVC declined to comment.