Former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is in talks to pave the way for a takeover of the Daily Telegraph newspaper led by New York-based media investor Dovid Evony.
Sky News has learned that Zahawi has been working for several weeks with LionTree, Mr Efune’s investment banking adviser, on the deal, which is expected to be worth around £550m.
Sources in the city said on Monday that Evony, owner of the New York Sun, was exploring securing part of the financing for the takeover from Sir Mohamed Mansour, the former Conservative party treasurer.
In September, Sky News revealed that Sir Mohammed had been approached to offer up to £150m for a standalone bid for the Telegraph addresses which Mr Zahawi was leading.
Evony was then given a period of exclusivity to finalize the deal before the end of November, and is now mobilizing financial backers to help get the deal done, with the help of a former Tory adviser.
If the deal is completed, it will crystallize a windfall for RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi-backed company that paid £600m for a purchase option that was intended to turn it into ownership of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine.
One source said that depending on the final structuring of the deal, it could be worth up to £575 million
The Spectator was recently sold for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund billionaire, who appointed Michael Gove, a former government minister, as editor-in-chief.
Informed sources said Zahawi is likely to get a continuing role at The Telegraph if the offer from Evony is successful.
The former Chancellor, Education Secretary and Vaccine Minister has been involved in the Telegraph operation in various ways, initially helping to broker a deal with RedBird IMI before putting together its own bid.
He has close relationships with many Gulf figures involved in the process, including Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bidding Mechanism.
Mr Zahawi has also since been appointed chairman of Very Group, the online retailer owned by the Barclay family that controlled The Telegraph for two decades, and which is now partly funded by IMI.
UAE-based IMI, controlled by the UAE Deputy Prime Minister and eventual owner of Manchester City Football Club, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has provided an additional £600 million to Barclays Bank to repay a loan owed to Lloyds Banking Group. With the balance secured against other family assets.
Spokesmen for Evony, Sir Mohammed and Red Bird IMI declined to comment on Monday, while Al Zahawi could not be reached for comment.
The former minister has not spoken publicly much about his interest in a role at The Telegraph, although he told Sky News presenter Sophie Ridge in September that “it would be an incredible honour, and a real privilege, if I were… The Telegraph (or) involved in (it) “.
Sir Mohammed, who has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative Party, was knighted earlier this year – a move criticized by critics of the honors system.
His family office, Man Capital, is the second-largest shareholder in the café chain Caffe Nero, while it owns the San Diego Football Club, a new Major League Soccer franchise that will debut next year.
The London-based billionaire was the Conservative Party’s first treasurer from late 2022 until this year’s general election.
Evony’s bid raised the unusual possibility of Conrad Black, its former owner, returning to the British newspaper group, Sky News reported earlier in the fall.
Lord Black, who stopped being a member of the House of Lords earlier this year due to non-attendance, writes regular opinion pieces for the digital title and was a founding director of its publisher.
For decades, Lord Black was a formidable figure in the newspaper industry in Britain and abroad, overseeing newspapers at Hollinger International that included the Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.
He took an initial stake in the Telegraph Group in 1985, before taking full control later that year.
After being convicted in 2007 on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice, he spent three and a half years in prison, and in 2019 he was pardoned by President Trump.
Other bidders for the Telegraph included National World, the London-listed company headed by former Mirror newspaper boss David Montgomery, and Lord Saatchi, the former advertising mogul, who offered £350 million.
Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, withdrew from the bidding earlier in the summer amid fears he would be banned on competition grounds.
The Telegraph auction is being run by Ryan Group and Robbie Warshaw, advisers to the Abu Dhabi-backed entity whose efforts to buy media titles have been thwarted by a change in property law.