Sale process to secure new owners for Telegraph and Spectator is launched

The Telegraph could fetch about £500 million from the sale, according to estimates from sector analysts.

The sale process for the Telegraph Media Group and Spectator Magazine has been launched (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)

The Telegraph Media Group and The Spectator magazine have launched the sale process to secure new owners for the business.

The long-awaited sale to gain control of one of the UK’s largest newspaper groups has already seen a wealth of interest from potential buyers.

The board of the parent companies behind the Telegraph and Spectator confirmed their advisers launched the separate sale processes for each business on Friday.

It is understood advisors from Goldman Sachs are overseeing the sale.

The Telegraph could fetch about £500 million from the sale, according to estimates from sector analysts.

It comes four months after restructuring specialists AlixPartners were appointed as receivers for the business from previous owners, the billionaire Barclay brothers.

The brothers’ bank, Lloyds, hired the receivers to control and help oversee a sales process of the business in order to repay debts from failed loans from the bank, worth more than £1 billion.

The two businesses, which will be sold separately, have reportedly secured up to 20 expressions of interest.

Earlier this month, the Barclay brothers attempted a last-minute bid to repay their debts and regain control with backing from Abu-Dhabi based investors but this failed.

Hedge fund millionaire and GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall, Daily Mail publisher DMGT, Yorkshire Post owner National World and German publisher Axel Springer have all been linked with a deal for the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, DMGT and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK are both reportedly interested in a move for The Spectator.