The American billionaire Ken Griffin, the founder of the Citadel hedge fund, is in discussions to join a group of investors led by Sir Paul Marshall, the co-owner of GB News, that is preparing a bid to buy the Telegraph.
Marshall, the founder of the London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace, is planning a bid through his UnHerd Ventures media group before an auction of the Telegraph and Spectator titles that is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Citadel is one of the world’s most successful performing hedge funds, with more than $62bn (£51bn) under management. Griffin is estimated to have a personal fortune of $35bn, according to Forbes magazine.
Lloyds Banking Group, which seized control of the Telegraph and the Spectator in June after the owners, the Barclay family, failed to reach an agreement over the repayment of more than £1bn of debt, is using the investment bank Goldman Sachs to handle the auction.
The Barclay family, which paid £665m for the titles in 2004, has held talks with backers from the United Arab Emirates in their attempt to regain control of the Telegraph.
The family has made a number of offers to buy back the newspapers, which have so far been rejected, with the latest reportedly valuing the business at £725m.
Earlier this month it emerged that Lord Rothermere, the owner of the Daily Mail, MailOnline, Metro, i and New Scientist, had also held talks with Middle Eastern investors about a bid for the titles.
Other potential bidders include David Montgomery’s National World, the listed company that owns titles including the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post, Sir William Lewis, the former News UK and Telegraph senior executive, and the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský.
Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, the owner of the Times, Sunday Times and the Sun, is understood to be mulling a bid for the Spectator.
In July, Charlie Nunn, the chief executive of Lloyds, said he believed a new owner for the Telegraph and Spectator titles would be found “relatively quickly” and expected “there will be a lot of interest”.
