Efune given six weeks to secure Telegraph deal

The owner of the New York Sun has entered exclusive talks to buy The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph as he seeks to finalise financing for a bid of more than £500 million.
Dovid Efune has secured six weeks of exclusive talks for his deal to buy the publications, which were seized from the Barclay family by Lloyds Bank in a £1.2 billion dispute over unpaid debts.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture part-funded by an Emirati royal, had hoped to secure the titles by refinancing the Barclay family’s debts owed to Lloyds Bank, but its plan to convert the debt into equity was blocked by ministers.
Politicians introduced new laws to stop RedBird IMI’s deal because they were concerned about a UK news outlet coming under the influence of a foreign government. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who was providing most of the funding for the transaction, is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, a country which has faced criticism for censoring journalists.
The Times spoke to a number of reporters at UAE-owned publications who warned that the country’s rulers would intervene to stop negative coverage of business or political affairs. One journalist said the UAE wanted the “prestige” associated with owning a newspaper “but none of the responsibility”.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, the minister for arts and heritage at the time, revealed the new measures to block foreign powers from owning news publications in March, saying that the free media was “the bedrock of our democracy and an essential safeguard which ensures accountability and effective government”.
RedBird IMI is now seeking to sell the Telegraph titles. Efune, who was born in Manchester and has been building his media career in New York, emerged as a leading candidate in the auction after hiring LionTree, a boutique investment bank, to advise on a bid.
He has been in discussions with a number of parties about financing a deal, including Oaktree, an investment firm, and the family office of the hedge fund manager Michael Leffell. He had been seeking backing from Hudson Bay Capital for a bid but was unable to secure support from the US investment firm.