UK government intervenes in Emirati takeover talks of Telegraph newspaper

The UK government has requested an investigation into a potential Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of the long-established British Telegraph newspaper.

As reported by the Evening Standard, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer issued a "public interest intervention notice," asking the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom to look into RedBird IMI's offer to repay debts owed by the previous owners of The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine.

RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments led by former CNN director Jeff Zucker, plans to provide loans of up to £600 million ($751 million) to the Barclay family, with an option to turn the loans into equity, potentially giving it control of the newspaper and magazine.

Secretary Frazer said she has asked the UK's communications regulator to look into the deal and report back to her by the end of January.

The Emirati lenders assured, that “RedBird IMI remains entirely committed to maintaining the existing editorial team of the Telegraph and Spectator publications and believes that editorial independence for these titles is essential to protecting their reputation and credibility”.