Desmond Mounts Two Pronged Attack On Telegraph Titles
Richard Desmond’s Express Newspaper Group has submitted a substantial £500 million cash bid for the Telegraph titles as the battle for control of the Hollinger-owned assets intensifies.
The newspaper baron’s privately owned Northern & Shell company has also moved to take full control of the joint venture printing plant it controls with Lord Conrad Black’s Telegraph Group.
Reports suggest that Desmond has served notice on Hollinger that he plans to acquire the company’s 50% holding in West Ferry Printers, Europe’s largest broadsheet newspaper plant, irrespective of the outcome of his Telegraph bid.
Desmond is understood to have written to Telegraph Group directors claiming that change of control clauses, which allow him to move on the print works, have already been triggered by the £260 million bid for Hollinger Inc tabled last month by the Barclay brothers (see Barclay Brothers Agree Telegraph Takeover Deal).
Hollinger International is currently suing Lord Black for attempting to sell the Telegraph titles to the Barclay Brothers. However, Black is counter-suing the group on the grounds that it engaged in ‘illegal manoeuvring’ in order to interfere with the sale agreement (see Black Counter-Sues Hollinger Over Illegal Interference).
The Barclay brothers believe they have an ‘irrovacable agreement’ to take control of the Telegraph titles, but the validity of the deal will be decided by a US court in Delaware next week (see State Law Could Jeopardise Hollinger Takeover).
Potential bidders have until close of business tomorrow to submit indicative offers for Hollinger International’s newspaper assets, which also include the Spectator, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post.
Speculation suggests that Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust is planning to move on the group, amid competition from venture capitalists 3i and private equity group Candover, which looks likely to table an indicative offer of about £400 million (see Rival Bidders Prepare To Move On Telegraph Titles).
City brokerage, Collins Stewart, has also expressed interest in taking control of the Telegraph titles and the family of Lord Hartwell, who sold the Daily Telegraph to Lord Conrad Black, is believed to be putting the final touches to a £500 million bid (see Former Owners Mount Bid To Win Back Telegraph).
Hollinger International: www.hollingerinternational.com
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