Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner. Picture: Robert Downs/INMA
Axel Springer’s planned £575m takeover of Telegraph Media Group has been approved by the UK Government.
It is still awaiting regulatory approval in Ireland and Austria (due to there being a lower threshold for competition concerns in those countries although there is no expectation of any impact there).
The publisher said it expects the deal to completed by the end of June.
Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner said: “We are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition.
“After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in The Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth.”
Axel Springer added that The Telegraph will keep “its distinct editorial voice and British identity”.
Axel Springer owns Politico and Business Insider, which both have journalists in the UK, as well as German newspapers Bild and Die Welt.
The Telegraph reported that the news was “greeted with relief” in its newsroom after almost three years of being in ownership limbo or, as the newsbrand put it, “damaging uncertainty”. Revenue and profit at Telegraph Media Group was steady amid the ongoing process according to the latest accounts filed for 2024.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she has assessed the proposed takeover and is not minded to intervene on the grounds of either public interest or foreign state influence.
Before Axel Springer swooped in, Nandy had authorised an investigation into the previous planned takeover by Daily Mail owner DMGT on public interest and competition grounds. The slow regulatory process was one of the reasons the Axel Springer deal ended up taking preference for seller Redbird IMI.
However Nandy said she could still intervene if “new or additional information comes to my attention”.
Nandy also said she had given the required written consent for Redbird IMI to transfer ownership to Axel Springer.
Nandy said: “I am pleased to be able to take these positive steps, which give greater certainty to the Telegraph and its staff.”
Redbird IMI acquired The Telegraph in 2023 as it agreed to pay off £1.2bn in debts for the Barclays.
But it was blocked from ownership because it was majority funded by the United Arab Emirates, making it in breach of a new UK law banning foreign states from owning more than 15% of UK newspapers.
Last year US-based private investment firm Redbird said it would buy The Telegraph in a new £500m deal with IMI owning no more than the permitted 15%. DMGT was also involved as an investor.
However Redbird withdrew its bid , which still had not received Government approval, in November because the process was taking so long and it was receiving negative publicity from The Telegraph itself. That was when DMGT stepped in as the next potential owner.
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