Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, leaving 10 Downing Street after taking part in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet meeting on Saturday 6 July 2024. Picture: Tejas Sandhu/PA Wire
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is “minded to” intervene in Daily Mail owner DMGT’s takeover of The Telegraph.
Nandy told Parliament on Tuesday that she is considering intervention based on two public interest grounds: whether the deal will create a “sufficient plurality of views” and whether it will result in a “sufficient plurality of persons with control”.
This comes under Section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2022 , which calls for “accurate presentation of news” and “free expression of opinion”.
It also states the “need for, to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable, a sufficient plurality of views in news media…” and “the need, in relation to every different audience in the United Kingdom or in a particular area or locality of the United Kingdom, for there to be a sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises serving that audience”.
If she decides to intervene, Nandy said she will ask Ofcom to “assess and report to me on the public interest concerns” while the Competition and Markets Authority will look at “whether a relevant merger situation has been created, and any impact this may have on competition”. Nandy would then decide whether a full investigation should be carried out.
DMGT has been privately owned by Lord Rothermere since the start of 2022 when he de-listed the company from the London Stock Exchange.
As well as the Daily Mail newspaper and website, it also owns Metro, The i Paper and the New Scientist.
Press Gazette has found that the deal would enable DMGT to dominate the UK national newspaper market with more than 50% of circulation.
However according to Ofcom, the internet is the main source of news for 71% of people in the UK .
DMGT plus Telegraph Media Group would account for just over two billion online audience minutes per month per Ipsos iris data for the UK .
When it announced its £500m bid for Telegraph Media Group in November , DMGT said: “DMGT places great emphasis on the editorial independence of its titles, and The Daily Telegraph would remain editorially independent from other titles in the group.”
DMGT also already sells print advertising for The Telegraph via Mail Metro Media and prints The Telegraph newspapers via its joint venture with News UK, Newsprinters.
DMGT has been invited to make representations to Nandy by 9am on Monday after which she will make her final decision on whether to intervene.
Telegraph Media Group is currently owned by Redbird IMI which agreed a deal to pay off £1.2bn in debts for former owners the Barclay family.
However, Redbird IMI 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 with IMI owning no more than the permitted 15%. DMGT were 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 pages of The Telegraph itself.
Redbird IMI wrote to Nandy in December requesting permission to transfer its interest in The Telegraph to DMGT.
Nandy has decided she will not intervene to look at any potential foreign state influence under the DMGT deal, which will see the publisher pay Redbird IMI £400m upfront from a mixture of a bank loan and existing company cash, and the rest within two years.
In 2020, DMGT was allowed to buy The i Paper after Ofcom told ministers the publisher had a “strong commercial incentive to maintain the i’s distinct voice and editorial positioning” as a non-partisan title.
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