The billionaire owners of the Telegraph newspapers say their businesses are in good shape following claims they are on the cusp of receivership. The BBC understands Lloyds Banking Group wants to recover debts from loans made to the Barclay brothers’ family. There are reports the Telegraph and Spectator titles could be sold within days. The family said, “Speculation about the business entering administration is unfounded and irresponsible”. It is unclear how much money is owed to Lloyds but the Financial Times (FT) reported it to be in the “hundreds of millions of pounds”.
One person close to the talks said the banking group’s patience over the debt was “running out”, the FT said. Sky News said Lloyds Banking Group was being advised by financial firm Lazard and it planned to appoint another bank to immediately begin selling the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles. A spokesperson for the Barclays said: “The loans in question are related to the family’s overarching ownership structure of its Media Assets. They do not, in any way, affect the operations or financial stability of Telegraph Media Group.”
The statement said businesses within its portfolio continued to trade strongly and the Telegraph was performing “extremely well”. The twin brothers, Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay, bought the newspapers in 2004 from Hollinger following the demise of Conrad Black. Sir David died in 2021. The business, which is now run by Sir David’s son Aidan, includes the Spectator magazine and stretches beyond the media world to include the courier Yodel and Shop Direct, with the online retail outlets Littlewoods and Very.
The sale of the Ritz hotel in London in 2020 exposed a bitter rift between the two families of the twins, with claims of commercial espionage over the bugging of business meetings. At the centre of the affair was CCTV footage allegedly showing Sir Frederick’s nephew handling a device. It saw the billionaire and his daughter, Amanda, sue three of Sir David’s sons for invasion of privacy. Further legal issues arose last August – the Guardian newspaper reported Sir Frederick, 88, avoided a prison sentence after a high court judge gave him three months to pay money owed to his ex-wife. That case is continuing.
