Hollinger International announced last night that it had revisited plans for sale of the entire company and has decided to focus on disposal of the UK subsidiary; including The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine.
The three British titles are reported to have attracted offers between £600 million to £700 million.
After the corporate review meeting held late last night, chairman, Gordon Paris said: “The company has been undertaking an extensive process to evaluate a wide range of strategic alternatives to maximise value for our shareholders. Based on this effort, the corporate review committee has decided that, at this point in time, the focus of the strategic process should be the potential sale of the UK assets.”
The bidding deadline was up last Thursday, with offers made for purchase of the entire business, but press reports suggest that none of the bids were considered to be sufficiently high.
Yesterday, German publishing group Axel Springer, pulled out of the race clearing the way for new favourites – the Barclay Brothers – whose previous offer was rejected by the group’s board.
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