(London) The British Daily The Telegraphas well as its Sunday edition The Sunday Telegraph and the magazine The Spectator will be put up for sale after unpaid debts from their parent company, Bank of Scotland said on Wednesday.
Bank of Scotland – to which the group is indebted – told AFP that “due to outstanding debts and with no sign of repayment, Bank of Scotland unfortunately had no choice but to appoint insolvency administrators for B. UK. Limited”, the parent company which notably controls the Telegraph Media Group, owned by the wealthy Barclay family.
Bank of Scotland explains that this is an “act of last resort”, for lack of having reached an agreement with the group for the repayment of debts.
According to British media, the amount of debt is around one billion pounds ($1.7 billion).
The bank has appointed AlixPartners as receiver. AlixPartners clarified that the procedure would not prevent publications from continuing their activities “normally”.
According to AlixPartners, Howard and Aidan Barclay have been removed from their roles as directors at the Telegraph Media Group and the magazine. The Spectator.
According to industry experts, the securities could be worth between 500 and 600 million pounds (830 to nearly $989 million).
“As AlixPartners has made clear, this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of the Telegraph and Spectator businesses,” the Barclay family responded, noting that discussions were continuing with the bank.
Twin brothers Frederick and David Barclay, who died in 2021, bought the newspapers from The Telegraph group in 2004 for 665 million pounds.
The two brothers built a vast empire that started with hotels and expanded to include retail and media.