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Lloyds Banking Group PLC will hire bankers within days to launch a £600 million auction of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine, according to a report by Sky News late Tuesday. The news comes amid a bitter row between the Edinburgh-based bank and the titles’ long-standing owners, Sky News said, with Lloyds being advised by financial consultancy Lazard Ltd on its options. Sky cites ‘industry sources’ as saying that Lloyds planned to appoint another large investment bank to kick off an immediate process to sell the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles. That would initiate one of the most hotly contested media auctions in Britain for years, Sky News reported, and bring an end to the Barclay family’s nearly two-decade ownership of the broadsheet newspapers. Sky News reported that Lloyds intends to pursue this course as early as Wednesday, enabling it to remove directors appointed by the Barclay family, according to an insider source. Among those removed is expected to be Aidan Barclay, chair of the newspaper group and nephew of Frederick Barclay, who along with David Barclay engineered the takeover of the Telegraph in 2004. https://news.sky.com/story/lloyds-to-launch-600m-telegraph-auction-after-seizing-control-12897863 Shares in Lloyds closed up 1.5% to 45.40 pence each in London on Tuesday. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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