Abu Dhabi definitely seems to like British trophies. After the Manchester City football team, will the emirate offer itself the Daily Telegraph, the great right-wing newspaper across the Channel? As the financial agreement for the acquisition was finalized, the British government decided to intervene.
On Thursday, November 30, he contacted two regulators, Ofcom, in charge of the media, and the CMA, the competition authority. They will have to decide by January 24 whether the acquisition presents a risk for “public interest” from the United Kingdom. In particular, they must ensure that “the need for fair presentation of information and the expression of freedom of expression in newspapers” is respected.
The possible acquisition of the influential daily – pro-Brexit newspaper, which has long published Boris Johnson’s columns – by a fund controlled by Sheikh Mansour Ben Zayed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates , causes turmoil within the conservative party. On November 29, eighteen Tory MPs published an open letter believing that the transaction presented “a very real potential threat to national security”.
Near bankruptcy
Charles Moore, a former editor of the Telegraphwho still writes a column there, also opposed this sale. “It would be a nationalization [d’un quotidien national britannique] by a country that does not have press freedom. The UAE may be one of the best-governed Arab states, with a friendly tradition towards the UK, but even its best friends would not claim it is a democracy. »
Abu Dhabi’s possible takeover of the Daily Telegraph is the result of the near bankruptcy of the current owners. In 2004, twin brothers Frederik and David (now deceased) Barclay bought the daily for 665 million pounds (775 million euros). The exact origin and amount of their fortune have never been very clear. The two men depended in particular on a network of debts registered in tax havens. After very long and unsuccessful negotiations for the repayment of one of their debts, amounting to 1.14 billion pounds (1.3 billion euros), their creditor bank, Lloyds Banking Group, seized this summer two of their main assets: the Daily Telegraphas well as a weekly, The Spectatoralso influential in conservative circles.
The bank then put them up for sale. At least three parties were interested: Rupert Murdoch, also owner of the Sun and TimesDGMT, the company that owns the Daily Mailanother daily newspaper, and Paul Marshall, a financier who recently launched the GB News news channel.
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