The Daily Mail appears set to press ahead with a bid for the Daily Telegraph in a move that would give it dominance in what’s left of the British daily newspaper market.
Lord Rothermere and his DMGT group, which owns the Daily Mail, this week confirmed his interest in a takeover of the Daily Telegraph that would seal 50% of the newspaper market.
“It is very possible”
“I think it is likely to happen,” says a source close to the deal,” I think the market dominance that this deal offers makes this very possible.”
In one fell swoop it would make Lord Rothermere the most powerful press baron in the land.
First, Lord Rothermere has to raise finance to ensure he is the highest bidder when the Daily Telegraph goes on auction and is believed to be in talks with a number of funds.
Telegraph valued at $600m
Investment bank Lloyds, which took control of the newspapers after a protracted and acrimonious negotiation with their former owner, the Barclay family, hopes to value them at about £600m.
The Telegraph holding company has picked the Wall Street investment banker Goldman Sachs to oversee the deal.
A provincial dark horse is also in
The second, much smaller, bidder is National World, the company that owns the Yorkshire Post and is run by a Fleet Street veteran David Montgomery, who was a former executive on the Mirror.
Yet the favourite to clinch the deal is Lord Rothermere who is looking for consolidation and economies of scale to fight the squeeze on advertising revenue.
The auction is expected to get underway in the autumn.
Whoever seals the deal is likely to go under scrutiny from the regulatory authorities.
