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The former owners of The Daily Telegraph have tabled a blockbuster £1bn bid that they believe will end rival suitors’ hopes of buying the broadsheet newspapers.
Sky News has learnt that the Barclay family has lined up financing from Abu Dhabi investors to lodge a knockout offer that would repay the debt owed by their companies to Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s biggest high street lender.
Insiders said the Barclay family’s latest proposal had been lodged in the last few days, in an attempt to derail an auction of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator current affairs magazine that was due to get underway as early as Monday.
An offer of £1bn would be expected to act as a serious deterrent to other potential bidders for the titles, who include the hedge fund billionaire Sir Paul Marshall, the German media giant Axel Springer and Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail proprietor.
The Barclays’ latest offer came just weeks after a proposal valued at £725m was submitted to Lloyds, and underlines the family’s determination to regain ownership of two of Britain’s most influential newspapers.
Lloyds may seek to resist any pressure to formally terminate the broader Telegraph sale process immediately while it awaits proof of funding from the Barclay family.
City sources said on Monday that the ultimate source of the financing for its bid was unclear, although members of the Abu Dhabi ruling family including Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan – the ultimate owner of a controlling stake in Manchester City Football Club – are understood to have been involved in the talks.
Ken Costa, the veteran City banker who advised the Barclay brothers on their purchase of the Telegraph in 2004 and counts the sale of Harrods to Qatar Holding among his other flagship…
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