A court in Delaware gave Lord Black the go-ahead on Friday to proceed with legal action to attempt to block the sale of the Telegraph titles to the Barclay brothers.
Black is expected to file a suit within days, asking for Hollinger International shareholders, the parent company of the newspaper titles, to cast a vote on the sale. He holds a majority of the voting shares within the group.
The intervention by Black will further prolong a drawn out battle for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator magazine, which kicked off in November 2003.
Last week, Black revealed that a mystery bidder had come forward to derail the Barclay’s £665 million bid but advisors at Hollinger International were believed to be sceptical of the discovery of a last minute bidder. One said: “Even his own filing says that no specific proposal has been made, so what is he on about?” (see Black Unveils Mystery Bidder For Telegraph Titles)
In February, the Barclay brothers withdrew a previous bid of £260 million for the titles after Hollinger International rejected their £1.4 billion offer for Black’s majority share in the company. The brothers offered a price tag of £1.4 billion but this was not deemed high enough (see Hollinger International Rejects Barclays’ Bid).
Sources close to the Barclays are confident the sale will go through and will be finalised by the end of July.
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