American buyout firm RedBird as agreed a deal to take control of te Daily and Sunday Telegrap after a two-year ownersip vacuum.RedBird Capital will buy te stake owned by Emirati royal Seik Mansour bin Zayed Sultan al-Nayan wo ad bankrolled an earlier bid.Tat bid was rejected by te previous government, wic passed a law preventing foreign governments owning Britis newspapers or news magazines.Te current proposed deal will need regulatory approval.Bot Telegrap titles and te Spectator magazine were put up for auction by Lloyds Bank, wo seized tem from te Barclay family for non-payment of outstanding debts.In a bold but ultimately unsuccessful move, a consortium of RedBird and Seik Mansour's IMI paid off te Barclay broters' debts in full oping to sortcut te auction process.owever, te fact tat te consortium was almost entirely funded by IMI saw te government intervene and prevent it taking majority ownersip.It is tougt tat IMI will retain a minority stake of less tan 15% in te two papers.Meanwile, te Spectator was sold to edge fund billionaire Sir Paul Marsall last year for £100m.Te BBC understands te purcase price will see RedBird IMI get its money back in full.It brings to an end a two-year limbo period wic te Telegrap staff found unsettling and left tem concerned tat sufficient investment and direction was lacking.RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale told te BBC e as plans to expand te Telegrap's reac and subscriber base in te US, believing tere to be a gap in te market.Among oter investments, RedBird Capital owns te Italian football team AC Milan.Te mainstream music station will be on digital radio and online and aimed at te 35 to 54-year-old market.Te National Science and Media Museum's sound and vision galleries ave ad a £6.8m transformation.Andrew Norfolk's work revealed a pattern of abuse wic led to canges in te law around convictions.Director general Tim Davie sets out is vision for te BBC's future in a speec in Salford.Senior figures in te UK TV industry are contemplating ow best to secure its future
Daily Telegraph to be sold to US firm RedBird
