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New York Sun owner Dovid Efune is launching a fresh effort to buy the Telegraph with backing from multimillionaire Brexit backer Jeremy Hosking and former UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi in what has been dubbed a “British bid” for the newspaper.
UK-born Efune was in exclusive talks to acquire the newspaper from Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI until December, and has since remained in discussions with bankers on the deal despite the lack of guaranteed funding.
Efune’s attempts to secure money for his bid from US funds failed, leaving RedBird boss Gerry Cardinale to try to take full control by buying out IMI.
But Efune has now secured financial backing from Hosking, a British investment executive, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Hosking donated heavily to the Reclaim and Conservative parties in the past, as well as to Vote Leave before the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Zahawi, who was involved in RedBird IMI’s move to take control of the Telegraph last year, has also backed Efune’s bid, adding rightwing political support.
Aryeh Bourkoff at LionTree, who is advising Efune, has spent time in the UAE in the past talking to IMI, the Abu Dhabi investment group that controls the Telegraph alongside US-based Redbird, according to people close to the situation.
A person with knowledge of Efune’s latest offer described it as the “British bid” as “the vast bulk of the funding comes from Brits and Efune himself is obviously British”. They added: “Jeremy Hosking is a major backer, as is Nadhim Zahawi.”
Efune will travel to London next week for meetings about the deal, they said. Hosking has already met senior Telegraph management, according to a separate person with knowledge of the situation.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for Efune told the Financial Times that he “has been working quietly over the past months and has now secured commitments from a group of backers amounting to a significant bulk of the equity capital required”.
Hosking told the FT: “I fully support the Efune bid as they are appropriate owners of this British asset, and have already offered financial backing. If it succeeds I am confident I will be significantly involved.”
Zahawi declined to comment. RedBird IMI did not respond to requests for comment.
Many in the industry had assumed that Cardinale has the advantage in the battle for control of the Telegraph. He has also held talks with other UK-based investors and media groups, including Lord Rothermere’s group that owns Telegraph rival the Daily Mail.
The dealmaking saga began two years ago when Lloyds Banking Group seized control of the Telegraph after the Barclay family, which had owned it since 2004, left the bank with unpaid debts.
RedBird IMI took control of the media group for about £550mn but its bid to convert this into full ownership was blocked by the then-Conservative government owing to concerns about a foreign state-backed fund owning an influential newspaper.
The UK government this week confirmed plans to increase the cap on foreign state ownership of British national newspapers to 15 per cent, meaning that IMI could in future retain a small stake in a Cardinale-led group.
