Category Archives: Barclay brothers

Telegraph takeover decision put back by fresh inquiry into Barclay family’s UAE-backed deal

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Regulators’ reports on public interest risk now due on 11 March after late change in consortium’s structure prompts further review

A second investigation has been launched into the Barclay family’s deal to transfer control of the Telegraph newspaper group, pushing the deadline for regulators’ reports on the public interest threat it poses by more than six weeks.

The UK government moved swiftly to order the second watchdog inquiry after the Barclays’ UAE-backed consortium partner revealed a last-minute corporate structure change.

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MPs add to pressure on ministers to vet Barclay family’s Telegraph offer

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Call for national security law to be used to investigate proposed deal involving consortium backed by UAE

A group of MPs including the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith have asked ministers to use national security law to investigate the Barclay family’s proposed deal to give control of the Telegraph to a consortium backed by the United Arab Emirates.

The group of 18 MPs, which also includes Alicia Kearns, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, have written to the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, arguing that the proposed deal poses a “very real potential national security threat”.

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Sale of Telegraph newspapers and Spectator kicks off

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Last-ditch attempt by Barclay family to shut down auction with blockbuster £1bn offer thwarted

The sale of the Telegraph newspapers and the Spectator has kicked off, thwarting a last-ditch attempt by the Barclay family to shut down the auction with a blockbuster £1bn offer.

On Friday morning, the boards of the parent companies of Telegraph Media Group (TMG), the parent company of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and the Spectator said that the advisers Goldman Sachs had launched a sales process for each of the businesses.

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Rupert Murdoch’s last move? The Spectator is in his sights

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Rightwing magazine is said to be a favourite of the billionaire and is considered a ‘trophy prize’

Rupert Murdoch may have officially stood aside as chair of his media businesses but he’s still eyeing up what could be his last major UK deal: the purchase of the Spectator magazine.

The rightwing magazine, which is due to be auctioned off next month, is said to be a favourite of the billionaire, who used his resignation statement to claim much of the media is “in cahoots” with elites who have “open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class”.

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Why access to Tory party members is big incentive for owning Daily Telegraph

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Newspaper retains considerable influence among those who will shape the direction of Conservatives

Whoever buys the Daily Telegraph is not just purchasing a historic and profitable newspaper – they are acquiring direct access to Tory party members who will control the future direction of the Conservatives.

Paul Goodman, the editor of ConservativeHome, said the newspaper retained “considerable” influence among the approximately 160,000 card-carrying members of the party’s rank and file who vote in leadership elections and MP selections.

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‘Former estate agents’: the strange life of the Barclay twins

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Losing Telegraph newspapers will not turn remaining twin Frederick Barclay into a pauper, but it’s a bitter end to brothers’ empire-building

From humble beginnings growing up in a west London house so close to the railway line the window frames rattled when a train passed, the Barclay twins, Frederick and David, became an extraordinary, energetic and eccentric power couple.

They built an empire of glitzy hotels and made many millions in shipping and retail before plunging into the world of newspapers but – largely – eschewed the trappings of life in the London fast lane to live in strange isolation in a sprawling mansion on a small rocky island just off the French coast.

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Sir Frederick Barclay relying on nephews to fund divorce battle, court hears

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Barclay has not yet paid any of the £100m due to Lady Hiroko Barclay and halved her monthly allowance

Sir Frederick Barclay, who along with his twin brother was once one of the UK’s richest men, is relying on his nephews to fund his divorce battle after being evicted from his luxury flat, a court has heard.

A high court hearing on Thursday heard that Barclay, 87, has not paid any of the £100m divorce order made almost a year ago and has halved the monthly allowance to his wife of 34 years, Lady Hiroko Barclay.

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Barclay nephews say it was ‘necessary and reasonable’ to bug Ritz

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Relatives claim they secretly recorded Sir Frederick Barclay to protect family business

Sir Frederick Barclay’s nephews have said they felt it was “necessary and reasonable” to bug the conservatory of the Ritz hotel after becoming concerned that their billionaire uncle’s conduct could potentially damage the family’s business empire, according to documents lodged at the high court.

Barclay, 85, and his daughter, Amanda, are suing three of his twin brother Sir David Barclay’s sons – Alistair, Aidan and Howard, and Aidan’s son Andrew – over 1,000 conversations secretly recorded at the Ritz hotel across several months.

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