Private equity firm plots takeover bid for Telegraph following Daily Mail owner’s withdrawal

CVC Capital Partners owns sports brands including the Six Nations and La Liga

The Telegraph has faced an ownership crisis since last year (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)

A private equity firm is plotting a takeover bid for The Telegraph newspaper group, following Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere’s withdrawal last week.

Telegraph Media Group is seeking a buyer after its proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by the previous government earlier this year.

CVC Capital Partners, which owns sports brands including the Six Nations and La Liga, is lining up a bid for the media group, according to The Telegraph.

The deal would make it the first UK news outlet owned by a private equity group.

CVC is a Luxembourg-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately £156billion of assets under its management. It invests in over 130 companies worldwide.

Nevertheless, the plans are not finalised and there is no certainty that a formal bid will be made, according to the reports.

The deadline for initial proposals to buy the media company at the end of this week.

This comes as Lord Rothermere pulled out of the bidding for the newspaper citing concerns that the Labour government would object to the purchase.

The DMGT group run by Lord Rothermere, whose family founded the Daily Mail in 1896, told advisors last week that it would not be making a bid.

They cited a change of government meant it would “face a heightened risk of a protracted regulatory process if we were to win the auction”.

Earlier this year, the Conservative government intervened to block Abu Dhabi-backed fund RedBird IMI from buying the newspaper group.

Last year, previous Telegraph owners the Barclay family were forced to put the media group up for sale in order to repay debts to lenders at Lloyds Bank.

After a lengthy process, receivers for Telegraph Media Group agreed to sell it to investment fund RedBird IMI.

The deal saw RedBird IMI pay roughly £600 million to purchase the business and agree to take on £600 million of related debts.

Other potential suitors linked with a deal include Yorkshire Post publisher National World and former advertising boss Lord Saatchi.

GB News investor Paul Marshall is among those to have reportedly shown an interest in buying the titles.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch’s News UK is also reportedly interested in purchasing The Spectator, but it is unlikely to be in the frame to buy The Telegraph titles due to competition concerns through his ownership of The Times.

CVC declined to comment on the reports.