Desmond Withdraws From Telegraph Race

Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers Group has today made a shock decision to withdraw from the race to take control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph from Hollinger International.

It is understood that that Lord Black’s beleaguered newspaper group told Desmond that he would have to increase his current bid of around £550 million by a further £50 million to be seriously considered.

A spokesman for Northern & Shell, which owns Express Newspapers, said: “We were in the process to buy a business not a trophy asset. We look forward to talking to the Telegraph‘s eventual owner about printing arrangements at West Ferry [the paper’s print plant].”

It has been reported that the Barclay brothers and the Daily Mail & General Trust are leading the bidding contest for the group, which was put up for sale last year. A number of venture capitalists and private equity firms have also submitted bids (see Rival Bidders Prepare To Move On Telegraph Titles).

The group which also publishes, the Jerusalem Post, the Chicago Sun-Times and Spectator magazine, had received at least a dozen bids by Tuesday’s deadline, Other bidders rumoured to be interested include Hollywood media mogul Haim Saban and American publishing giant, Gannett (see Israeli Billionaire Enters Race For Telegraph Titles).

The Barclay brothers were previously stopped from buying Lord Black’s majority stake in Hollinger Inc for a knock-down price of £260 million when Black was defeated in a US court, which accused the beleaguered newspaper baron as having breached his fiduciary and contractual duties (see US Court Blocks Sale Of Hollinger To Barclay Brothers).

Telegraph Group: 020 7538 5000 www.telegraph.co.uk

Recent Newspaper Stories from NewsLine Independent Ditches Broadsheet For Budget Special Guardian Considers Midsize Edition To Boost Sales Crisis Deepens As Black Ousted From Telegraph Group

Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive