--- title: "Daily Mail owner’s Telegraph takeover to be investigated" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/273095094.md" description: "The proposed £500m takeover of The Telegraph by Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere is set for investigation due to competition and public interest concerns. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is considering a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom. The CMA will assess the deal's impact on market competition, while Ofcom will evaluate its implications for public interest. The Media Reform Coalition has criticized the takeover, claiming it threatens media plurality. DMGT asserts its financing is free from foreign state influence, using a bridging loan from NatWest and a vendor loan from RedBird IMI." datetime: "2026-01-20T13:55:10.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/273095094.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/273095094.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/273095094.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Daily Mail owner’s Telegraph takeover to be investigated The proposed takeover of The Telegraph by the owner of the Daily Mail is to be investigated over its impact on competition and the public interest. Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said she was minded to refer Lord Rothermere’s £500m deal to regulators at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom. The move triggers official scrutiny of the latest attempt to end the more than two-and-a-half years of damaging uncertainty that has gripped The Telegraph. At a time of unprecedented technological threats and opportunities in the news business, this newspaper has been held in a vice of aberrant dealmaking and geopolitical ambition. Interested parties have been given until Monday next week to make representations before Ms Nandy officially makes a referral for what is known as a “phase one” investigation. The Culture Secretary said: “Following a thorough consideration of the terms set out in the derogation request and independent research, my department has today written to the current and proposed owners of the Telegraph Media Group on my behalf to inform them that I am minded to intervene. “This will enable the necessary regulatory scrutiny to commence.” ## Competition fears The CMA is to be given 40 working days to make an initial assessment of whether the combination of The Telegraph with Lord Rothermere’s existing news portfolio would substantially reduce competition. It is likely to examine the potential impact on choice and prices for readers and advertisers, in print and digital markets. As well as the Mail titles and their digital incarnations, Lord Rothermere also owns The i, The Metro and New Scientist. The media analysts Enders have estimated that the addition of The Telegraph would increase his share of the national news market, as measured by revenue, by nine percentage points to 30pc. Lord Rothermere’s holding company DMGT would overtake Rupert Murdoch’s News UK as the dominant owner of national titles. DMGT has signalled it will argue that the explosion of choice online for readers and advertisers has made such traditional definitions of the market irrelevant. According to Ofcom figures, print accounts for only 5pc of news consumption and that figure is falling. News publishers’ digital outlets account for 11pc, though this is dwarfed by online intermediaries such as YouTube and Instagram on 29pc. DMGT is also likely to rely on the fact that it already acts as salesman for print advertising in The Telegraph, and its printer via a joint venture with News UK. Both arrangements have passed CMA scrutiny. In parallel to the CMA’s economically focused phase one investigation, Ofcom is set for the potentially more politically sensitive job of examining the effect the deal might have on the public interest. This regime, unique to news media mergers, delivers advice to the Culture Secretary on whether a deal threatens the public interests in plurality, accurate news and free expression of opinion. Lord Rothermere’s proposed takeover is likely to face the most vocal opposition from the Left of British politics. The Media Reform Coalition, a pressure group created by media academics, has attacked it as “a nail in the coffin” of plurality that would “further entrench the dominance of Right-wing voices… across the national press”. ## ‘Free of foreign state influence’ The proposed takeover has so far generated little mainstream controversy, however, especially as compared to earlier phases of the saga. RedBird IMI, the UAE-backed vehicle that is now the seller of The Telegraph, positioned itself to take control in 2023 by paying off the overdue debts of the Barclay family to Lloyds Banking Group. It ambushed rivals, including Lord Rothermere, who had lined up to bid in an auction by receivers working for Lloyds. However, RedBird IMI was barred from consummating its scheme following a cross-party outcry that prompted a ban on foreign state ownership of newspapers. It made multiple unsuccessful efforts to secure an onward sale of The Telegraph, including a protracted bid last year by RedBird, the US private equity firm that was the junior partner in the original attempt. Its founder, Gerry Cardinale, recruited Lord Rothermere as a minority investor before ultimately falling short of the £500m required by the UAE. Mr Cardinale pulled out in November to focus on a UAE-backed bid for the Hollywood studio Warner Bros Discovery. His Telegraph bid had been in line to face a foreign state influence investigation over its reliance on debt to the UAE, which would have come on top of a 15pc stake. DMGT has said that its financing is “completely free” of prohibited foreign state influence. It has signalled it will finance the bid with a bridging loan of almost £400m from NatWest. Ms Nandy said she had considered the proposed takeover under the new legislation and was not minded to investigate it for foreign state influence. DMGT will also rely on a vendor loan of £100m from RedBird IMI, which may draw questions over whether it might convey any influence to the UAE. DMGT has said it will repay the vendor loan within two years. At the end of their phase one investigations, the CMA and Ofcom will deliver reports to Ms Nandy. If they identify concerns, she will have the option of referring the bid back to the CMA for a “phase two” investigation lasting months and potentially ending in it being blocked. Alternatively, if concerns are identified, Ms Nandy could accept undertakings from DMGT in lieu of a phase two investigation, for instance around The Telegraph’s editorial independence from the Mail. More radically, Lord Rothermere could offer up sales of The i or Metro. His takeover of The i was cleared in 2020 in part because Ofcom found little political overlap with the Mail. The Telegraph deal may pose more complex questions. The regulatory process is due to run against the backdrop of Prince Harry’s privacy claim against the Mail titles, which got under way this week at the High Court. His allegations of unlawful newsgathering have been completely denied. ### Related Stocks - [DMGT.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DMGT.UK.md) - [DMGO.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DMGO.UK.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**