UK Clears Axel Springer’s $770 Million Telegraph Deal

Axel Springer said Tuesday that the U.K. regulatory agency that oversees media acquisitions has approved its $770 million (£575 million) purchase of the Telegraph, clearing a key hurdle in the German media conglomerate’s quest to own the conservative newspaper.

U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Parliament in a letter that she was “currently not minded to intervene … on the basis of the evidence available to me at this time.” The U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport approval comes just over a month after Axel Springer announced it was buying the legacy U.K. newspaper, adding it to a media portfolio that includes Politico, Business Insider and German newspaper Die Welt.

The company must still get regulatory approval from Ireland and Austria, though it said it expects to obtain both by the end of June. The U.K. approval came after Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner reportedly tried to ingratiate himself with British politicians, including Conservative Party leader Kemi Dadenoch and the U.K. Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle, according to Semafor.

“We are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition,” Döpfner said in a statement. “After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in The Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth.”

Döpfner said in announcing the acquisition last month that, after the company’s failed attempt to purchase the Telegraph 20 years ago, “our dreams come true.”

Axel Springer said it planned to boost the publication’s resources and international expansion, including in the U.S. The all-cash purchase came weeks after the company joined a consortium of investors to outbid the Daily Mail and General Trust’s £500 million takeover bid.

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