Britain suspends the acquisition of Telegraph Group by a UAE-backed company

The British government on Friday prevented an Abu Dhabi-backed group from taking over the media group that owns The Telegraph newspaper while its takeover bid is being examined by regulators due to freedom of expression concerns, according to Reuters.

The government intervened in the planned agreement on Thursday, when it asked regulators to examine the deal, according to Reuters.

On Friday, the Minister of Culture and Information, Lucy Fraser, issued an executive order preventing any transfer of ownership of the Telegraph Media Group without her permission, and also halted any changes to its structure or senior editorial staff.

Earlier, Ofcom, the British communications regulatory authority, published an invitation to comment on the proposed deal by December 13.

In addition to the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper, the group owns the Spectator magazine.

The magazine is up for sale after Lloyds Banking Group, in June, took control after a long-running dispute with the owners, the Barclay family.

RedBird IMI, the company seeking to acquire Telegraph Media Group, is led by former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker, but most of it is owned by an Abu Dhabi fund, according to “RedBird IMI.”Financial Times“.

The future of the media group has been in doubt since Lloyds Banking Group placed it under judicial supervision this year, after the previous owners, the Barclay family, ran up debts worth £1.1 billion. RedBird IMI offered to pay off the family’s debts, according to the Financial Times.

On Friday, RedBird IMI and the Barclay family were in the process of signing the final documents and transferring the funds to an account to guarantee the payment of debts owed to Lloyds Group.

Repayment of the debt, which has not been subject to regulatory oversight, is expected to be completed on Monday.

The Financial Times indicates that when the debts are paid, technical control of the media group will be transferred back to the family.

A person close to the deal told the Financial Times that RedBird IMI was not planning to exchange its debt for shares in the magazine, and that it was waiting for regulators to more closely scrutinize the deal.

RedBird IMI has promised to maintain the editorial independence of The Telegraph. It also confirmed that it completes any deal until it obtains government approval.