Faced with opposition from London, a fund supported by Abu Dhabi abandons the purchase of the Daily Telegraph

The pressure exerted by the British government will have paid off. This Tuesday, the American-Emirati fund Redbird IMI, supported by a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, announced that it was withdrawing from the capital of the influential conservative daily The Daily Telegraph.

“RedBird IMI has confirmed its intention to withdraw from its proposed acquisition of Telegraph Media Group and to proceed with the sale” of a call option it has on the company, according to a statement from the fund.

This fund, three-quarters financed by the United Arab Emirates, had allied itself with the Barclay family, owner since 2004 of the press group but riddled with heavy debts. According to the agreement, RedBird IMI took over the family's 1.2 billion debt in December. In return, £600 million of this loan was to be converted into ownership of the Telegraph and the Spectator. The operational management of the press group would have been entrusted to the American branch of RedBird IMI, headed by Jeff Zucker, former boss of CNN.

But the British political class was immediately offended by this project, which would ultimately have brought the daily under the Emirati flag. Rishi Sunak's government then asked the British competition authority, the CMA, and the media regulator, Ofcom, to evaluate this operation, freezing the sale process.

“Throughout this process, I have raised concerns about the potential impact of this agreement on freedom of expression and the fair presentation of information, and I have taken steps to ensure the protection of media freedom while these concerns are investigated,” said Culture Minister Lucy Frazer.

Political pressure increased several notches last month. “We will modify the media acquisition regime, so as to explicitly exclude sales of newspapers and periodical news magazines involving the ownership, influence or control of foreign states,” the government declared in early March. British. A week later, he announced the opening of an in-depth investigation into this takeover. Faced with this outcry, Redbird IMI preferred to throw in the towel.