The boss of prospective Telegraph owner Redbird Capital has effectively issued a public plea for the UK Government to finally wave through his bid to take control of the title.
Writing in The Telegraph, Redbird Capital Partners managing partner Gerry Cardinale has given assurances over the title’s editorial independence and commitment to quality journalism.
And he revealed that deputy chairman of Telegraph Media Group Lord Black (a Conservative peer) is to establish an independent advisory board tasked with “upholding the highest standards of journalistic integrity”.
Black was director of the Press Complaints Commission from 1996 to 2003 and helped set up its successor body the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
This follows news that Redbird has recruited Financial Times journalist Matthew Garrahan to become “operating partner” of its news and entertainment division. This has led to speculation former head of digital platforms and strategy for the FT Garrahan is being lined up to replace Chris Evans as Telegraph editor.
Redbird is heading up a consortium of investors (including Abu Dhabi government-backed investment fund IMI) which wants to buy The Telegraph for £500m.
But the deal needs approval from the UK Government before the purchase can be finalised.
Earlier this week The Telegraph ran a story headlined: “Red flags over RedBird: the spymaster, Beijing’s banker and The Telegraph“. It reported fresh concerns over Redbird chairman John Thornton’s links to China’s ruling regime.
Concerns from Telegraph editors over the deal were underlined by a 21 October comment piece headlined: “Britain must not sell its free press to those who would silence it.”
And a 16 October report headlined “Telegraph takeover may face national security investigation over China links” noted: “The decades-long Chinese associations held by John Thornton, the firm’s chairman, have raised concerns that the fund may contain money under the influence of Beijing, such as billionaire family offices.”
It is also reported “widespread concern in Parliament about plans to allow the United Arab Emirates to retain a 15pc stake in The Telegraph”.
Writing in the Telegraph on 1 November, Janet Daly said: “Could there have been the committed research and due diligence that went into the Telegraph’s coverage of the collapse of the Chinese spy trial if the paper’s owners had been in a close relationship with a banker connected to the Chinese state? Would the resources of a newspaper which once revealed what was probably the most shocking political story of the decade – the MPs expenses scandal – be likely to risk a diplomatic incident if its ownership was linked with a foreign state which depended on a trade relationship with the UK?
“What is being proposed for the Telegraph – as well as even larger media operations which are being purchased by totalitarian states eager to buy up Western cultural vehicles – is the compromising of its credibility and transparent independence. Rapacious financiers concerned for their own survival, are taking advantage of the freedoms of the West to create an opportunistic alliance with the new imperialists of the East: together they will – if they can – put an end to the independent press.”
Setting out his case to buy The Telegraph, Cardinale said: “RedBird Capital Partners wants to buy The Telegraph for one simple reason: we believe it has the potential to become the most successful conservative newspaper in the English-speaking world, and we have the investment resources and operating expertise to help transform a legacy newspaper business (that everyone says is in decline) into a growth-oriented media company.
“As with all our intellectual property-based businesses over the last 25 years, we will never compromise the integrity of the content which is core to the investment thesis in our underwriting plans.”
He noted that, with Skydance Media, Redbird owns Paramount Global which controls CBS News and 60 Minutes in the US as well as Substack-based newsbrand The Free Press.
He said: “Our ambitious plans for The Telegraph would see it become the global centre right equivalent to The New York Times, offering world class journalism and commentary that resonates in the UK and globally.
“After all, The Telegraph’s values – fearlessness, insightfulness, pro-enterprise, fair play, free speech and the rule of law – are timeless.”
The ownership of Telegraph Media Group has been in limbo since June 2023 when the company was effectively repossessed by Lloyds Banking Group over unpaid Barclay family debts.
In November 2023, Abu Dhabi state-backed investment fund Redbird IMI took control of Telegraph Media Group after agreeing a deal to pay off £1.2bn in Barclay family debts.
The deal was then called in by the UK Government for approval under a Public Interest Intervention Notice.
In March 2024 the future ownership of The Telegraph again became wide open after the UK Government announced plans to stop foreign government-backed entities owning more than 15% of UK newspapers and magazines.
In May this year Redbird Capital Partners announced it had a deal in principle to buy The Telegraph for £500m, with Abu Dhabi-backed IMI limiting its stake to 15%.
The Government said on Thursday it will ensure that 15% is the overall cap regardless of how many foreign state investors are involved in a deal.
This month the terms of that deal are believed to have been finalised, with Daily Mail and General Trust and billionaire Leonard Blavatnik believed to be part of the Redbird-led consortium set to take control of The Telegraph.
In recent weeks, Redbird is understood to have formally requested that the UK Government allow the sale to go ahead.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is currently considering whether to ease an existing interim enforcement order stopping Redbird from taking control of The Telegraph and whether the deal should be referred to the Competition and Markets Authority.
‘You claim you won’t interfere. Don’t insult us’
Telegraph readers appear unconvinced judging by the most-liked comments appearing under Cardinale’s piece.
Many have cited concerns over Redbird’s alleged China links.
“El Bodgeo” said: “The only possible reason for any foreign investor to buy a British newspaper is to allow them to control the narrative. There is already a decline of proper investigative journalism at the DT, soon there will be none.”
Dee Meanor said: “The left controls most of our institutions and hence the reason why they are so badly managed. Wouldn’t they just love to get their hands on just about the only truly successful right wing media platform?
“Well, if Redbird is allowed this ‘hostile’ takeover, the left will have won because, let’s face it, any company with links to the ccp is not going to be producing right biased articles for long is it?”
Brendan Harris said: “RedBird is influenced by, if not controlled by, two dictatorships, Qatar and China, neither of which permit a free press.
“You claim you won’t interfere. Don’t insult us. When China moves to capture Taiwan, which it is now signalling it will do, China will use its influence in RedBird to ensure that the editorial line taken is favourable.”
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