The Deal That Never Closed: RedBird, the Barclays and the Daily Telegraph

For almost two decades the Daily Telegraph was controlled through a complex lattice of Barclay family companies. The structure involved entities in the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda which sat above the United Kingdom operating company. Throughout that period the group borrowed heavily. By 2023 those borrowings were reaching maturity and Lloyds Banking Group was owed more than one billion pounds. According to Reuters, Bloomberg and The Financial Times, the Barclay companies attempted multiple refinancing options as the debt approached repayment. Their wider businesses were also under strain. The Very Group, their major online retail operation, required substantial new funding and the press later reported that International Media Investments in Abu Dhabi and Carlyle were involved in providing part of that package.

By mid 2023 the pressure became unsustainable. Lloyds Banking Group acted through Bank of Scotland and enforced its security over B United Kingdom Limited, the Bermudian holding company that sat above Daily Telegraph Media Group Limited. AlixPartners was appointed as receiver. The Barclays lost effective control of the Daily Telegraph titles. The enforcement did not place the Daily Telegraph into insolvency. The operating company continued as normal. What changed was the strategic direction. The ownership structure was frozen and the receivers began to prepare a sale.

At the same time sources in Abu Dhabi and the United States were preparing a rescue package of unusual scale. RedBird Capital Partners, led by Gerry Cardinale, formed a joint venture with International Media Investments. International Media Investments has long been associated in public reporting with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The intention, according to The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Times, was to provide more than six hundred million pounds to Barclay related entities in order to repay the Lloyds debt in full. Once repaid, the structure would stabilise and RedBird International Media Investments would seek regulatory approval to acquire the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator.

This rescue had a logic that would be familiar to anyone who has worked in restructuring. A bank seeks repayment, a sponsor steps in with fresh capital, the borrower regains control, and the sponsor then converts its exposure into ownership. It is the classic two stage mechanism used in distressed acquisitions. The early statements from the consortium made the plan sound entirely workable. Their public material described an investment intended to support independent journalism, with International Media Investments described as a passive investor and RedBird intended to run the asset.

The difficulty, however, was that the target was not a logistics business or a retail chain. It was one of the most politically sensitive newspapers in the country. That fact changed the legal environment. It brought the enterprise into the territory governed by the Enterprise Act and the National Security and Investment Act. Those statutes require scrutiny when the ownership of a major newspaper may affect media plurality or when a foreign linked investor may have influence over a sensitive asset. Once the contemplated acquisition became public, the story moved from the commercial to the political.

How the enforcement occurred and why it mattered

A new player enters with deep capital

Once the receivership was in place, RedBird and International Media Investments began their intervention. Public reports from Sky News, Bloomberg and the BBC confirm that the refinancing funded by the joint venture cleared Lloyds exposure entirely. That ended the bank involvement. But it did not restore control to the Barclays. The United Kingdom Government had now entered the picture. The Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport at the time, Lucy Frazer, issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice. She also issued orders known as Pre Emptive Action Orders. These prevented any party from altering the control of the business pending a full review. Even though the bank had been repaid, the legal effect of those orders prevented the previous owners from resuming control and prevented RedBird International Media Investments from exercising any rights that might convert their exposure into equity.

At the same moment newspapers in Britain began to examine the involvement of International Media Investments. The Guardian, The Observer and the Daily Telegraph itself published pieces describing concerns about foreign public ownership and influence. Those concerns were directed at the concept, not at any allegation of wrongdoing by individuals. They were part of a wider public debate about media plurality and the appropriate limits of foreign backed capital in critical national institutions. The Office of Communications began to assemble evidence. The Competition and Markets Authority began its preparatory work. The structure now required formal clearance. That was no longer a matter for lenders or sponsors.

The overlapping financial presence that shaped the regulatory view

How the conversion plan stalled

RedBird International Media Investments expected a two stage journey. Stage one was repayment of Lloyds, which took place. Stage two was to acquire the newspapers once the receivers were discharged. The problem was that the regulators and the Secretary of State had become the ultimate gatekeepers. The signalling from the Department for Culture Media and Sport under Lucy Frazer was cautious. The public commentary from major newspapers raised questions about foreign linked influence. The statutory tests were strict. An ownership structure involving a foreign linked investor on both the refinancing and the acquisition side was inevitably going to face a demanding review.

Meanwhile the political environment was shifting. A general election brought about a new minister. Reporting from The Guardian and The Financial Times in late 2025 identified the current Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, as the decision maker who would have to consider any revised bid. Although no final decision by the minister had been issued, the direction of travel was clear. The circumstances were unfavourable. The process was slow. The intervention remained in place. The probability of approval was weakening rather than strengthening.

During this period various theories circulated. Among them was the idea that press hostility made the consortium reconsider. That may have been an irritant. However, the more serious analysis is that the regulatory path had become too narrow to pass through. In my view, and it is only an interpretation based on the reporting described here, the consortium could reasonably conclude that approval had become unlikely. A cautious investor that sees the regulatory and political environment closing in will often step back rather than sink further costs into a structurally constrained process.

Why repaying Lloyds did not restore Barclay control

The final withdrawal and the scale of the loss

In November 2025 Reuters reported that RedBird had withdrawn its roughly five hundred million pound bid for Daily Telegraph Media Group. Other outlets, including The Guardian and The Financial Times, discussed the withdrawal in the context of a long running saga marked by foreign public ownership rules, newsroom scrutiny and an uncertain regulatory timetable. No ministerial decision was published at that point. The withdrawal occurred before any formal refusal. The consortium chose to leave.

The financial implications are significant. Public reports place the amount advanced by RedBird International Media Investments to Barclay related entities at more than six hundred million pounds. If the claim is now worth considerably less than that, the loss is substantial. A haircut of two hundred million pounds or more is a reasonable scenario based on the numbers published in the press. It is unlikely that Gerry Cardinale alone will bear that burden. The loss would be shared across the joint venture and its backers. The Abu Dhabi linked capital associated with International Media Investments would inevitably feel the economic impact. This is analysis, not accusation. It is simply what follows when a refinancing fails to lead to an acquisition and the loan cannot be recovered in full.

A careful conclusion

References

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