The owner of the politically right-leaning New York Sun has emerged as the favourite to acquire the Daily and Sunday Telegraph ahead of Friday’s deadline for bids.
Though a late entrant to the auction British-born Dovid Efune’s BID is considered by several parties as the potential new frontrunner.
He is thought able to offer a competitive bid of around £550m while not attracting the political and regulatory objections that saw a bid backed by the United Arab Emirates ruling family blocked by the government.
Mr Efune is one of only two bidders to have attended senior management presentations at the Telegraph.
The Telegraph is back up for sale after an audacious attempt backed by Redbird IMI – a vehicle largely funded by Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour – to take ownership of both the Telegraph and the Spectator by paying off the previous owner’s debts collapsed.
The bid was vetoed by the previous Conservative government, who balked at the idea of a foreign state having majority ownership of politically influential UK newspapers and periodicals.
Titles like the Telegraph and the Spectator don’t come up for sale very often and are considered “trophy assets”.
Assets like this have prestige and influence, which means they command a higher price than their financial performance alone can justify.
Redbird IMI effectively paid £600m for both titles with many thinking they had overpaid.
However, Sir Paul Marshall paid £100m for the Spectator alone despite the fact it only makes around £2m in profit a year.
That valuation has fuelled optimism at Redbird IMI that the Telegraph, which makes a profit of over £40m, will fetch “north of £500m”.
If so, the Gulf bidders will be able to walk away from their attempted swoop without damage to their wallets or dignity.
It is expected to take several weeks or even months for the ownership to be settled as various legal and regulatory hurdles are cleared.
