As the carve-up of United’s television assets was finalised this morning (see Granada Media Consolidates Ownership Of Meridian And Sells HTV To Carlton), rumours continued to circulate regarding the fate of its Express Newspaper group. Conrad Black’s Telegraph group has reportedly stepped into the ring and confirmed its interest in the purchase.
Its bid will be met not only with competition from the Barclay Brothers, the Hinduja Brothers and a venture capital-backed group led by the Mirror’s CEO David Montgomery (see Bid Rumours Continue To Circulate For Express Group Takeover), but will also face the possibility of a lengthy monopoly and mergers commission inquiry. A successful bid for the Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star titles would see the creation of a national newspaper group rivalling News International, which owns the Sun, the Sunday Times and the News of the World.
Express Newspapers and the Telegraph group already have a partnership, through their joint ownership of print works West Ferry, which makes up almost half of Express Newspapers’ profits.
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