Hollinger too pricey for British publisher
June 17, 2004
London - British newspaper publisher Daily Mail and General Trust on Thursday announced it had withdrawn from a joint bid for Hollinger International's Telegraph Group, which includes London's prestigious Daily Telegraph newspaper, saying the price was too high.
"CVC Capital Partners (an investment fund) have been leading a consortium, including DMGT, which has been having discussions ... relating to the sale of certain assets of Hollinger International. Those discussions have now terminated," Daily Mail and General Trust said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the DMGT told AFP's financial news unit AFX: "CVC took the decision last night to terminate discussions ... on the basis of price."
She declined to specify the price, adding that DMGT had signed non-disclosure agreements with Lazards, the bank holding the auction for the Telegraph's Canadian owners.
"We made clear throughout the process that we were not willing to overpay for the Telegraph's titles ... it was clear that remaining in the process was going to require us to go beyond a value that wouldn't deliver value for our shareholders," the spokeswoman said.
DMGT's elimination leaves the British Barclay twin brothers, David and Frederick, battling against a joint venture capital bid from 3i and Veronis Suhler Stevenson for the Telegraph Group, according to reports.
Their bids are thought to range between £660 million and £690 million (R7.82 billion to R8.17 billion).
Bids were last month sought for Hollinger International's newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, Britain's best-selling broadsheet.
Hollinger International's newspapers were put up for sale following an increasingly bitter dispute between the company and its ousted chief executive, the media baron Conrad Black, who renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to become a member of Britain's House of Lords -- the upper chamber of parliament.
New owners of the Telegraph group would also seize control of the Sunday Telegraph and the British weekly Spectator political magazine.
Hollinger International also owns the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post, but the remaining bidders are not thought to be interested in these titles.
The secretive Barclay twins, whose empire includes the London Ritz Hotel and Scotsman newspaper, withdrew in March from a deal struck with Black to buy Hollinger Incorporated, which controls Hollinger International.
Their decision came after a US court ruled in February against an agreement by Black to sell the group. - AFP
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