Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI sells The Spectator for $131m

Alamy/Ben Queenborough

• Buyer is hedge fund boss Paul Marshall
• Marshall is joint owner of GB News
• Telegraph newspapers still for sale

RedBird IMI, a US investment group backed by Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, has sold the British magazine The Spectator to hedge fund boss Paul Marshall.

The deal with Marshall, through his Old Queen Street Ventures fund, was worth £100 million ($131 million).

Marshall is co-founder and chief investment officer of the global hedge fund Marshall Wace, which has assets under management of $67 billion. 

---

---

He is also joint owner of the right-wing TV station GB News.

The Spectator was first published in 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world, and is currently edited by Fraser Nelson.

Last year, RedBird IMI repaid the debts held by the Barclay family, the owners of the British Telegraph Media Group, including a £600 million loan, which effectively gave it control of the Telegraph newspaper titles, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and The Spectator.

However, it backed out of plans to acquire the centre-right Telegraph Media Group in May, after the UK government blocked the deal, passing legislation that prevented foreign governments from owning British newspapers and news magazines.

“The next phase of the sale of the Telegraph Media Group continues with strong interest from UK and international groups,” said Rani Raad, CEO of IMI.

IMI owns the UAE newspaper The National, Sky News Arabia and Al-Ain News.

• UAE’s RedBird IMI hopes for speedy sale of The Telegraph

• Telegraph scrutiny unlikely to deter Gulf investors in UK

• ‘Street of Shame’ can’t lecture about editorial independence

Potential buyers of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have been given until September 27 to submit revised offers for the publications, which are believed to be valued at between £500 million and £700 million.

There remains a possibility Marshall will also buy the two newspaper titles, although there is strong competition and a deal is likely to take longer to complete.

Other parties to have declared an interest in the two newspaper titles include the Belgian media group Mediahuis, News UK, owned by Rupert Murdoch, which already owns three British newspapers, The Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun, and the UK-listed National World, which owns more than 100 newspapers around the UK, including The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and the Belfast News Letter.

The Conservative peer Lord (Maurice) Saatchi and a consortium put together by Nadhim Zahawi, the former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, are also thought to hold an interest. However, there are believed to be even more potential bidders who have not gone public.

In May, RedBird IMI acquired All3Media, the UK’s largest independent TV production company, which was behind hits such as Fleabag, The Traitors and Gogglebox.

The £1.15 billion deal was the largest for RedBird IMI to date, the company said in a statement.