UK to permit international states 15% stake in newspapers | EUROtoday

Foreign states might be allowed to come clean with 15% of British newspapers and information magazines beneath new legal guidelines.

The transfer follows a takeover bid of the Telegraph and the Spectator by RedBird IMI final 12 months, backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling household, which led the then Tory authorities to ban foreign-state possession of UK papers, after an outcry from parliamentarians.

But beneath a regulation change introduced on Thursday, State Owned Investors (SOIs) – together with sovereign wealth funds, public pension or social safety schemes – will be capable to take a stake in UK newspapers.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy mentioned the adjustments would shield “media plurality” whereas serving to cash-strapped publishers “raise vital funding”.

Following a session on the ban, Labour mentioned that many newspaper teams believed a whole ban was too restrictive for securing financing.

Ministers set the edge for SOIs at 15% of shares or voting rights in a newspaper or information journal because it was “the most effective, simple and proportionate approach”.

The ban was launched after Lloyds Bank seized the Telegraph and its sister journal the Spectator from the Barclay household in June 2023 to be able to claw again £1bn of money owed from its former homeowners.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, finest recognized within the UK for his possession of Manchester City soccer membership, threw his appreciable monetary heft behind a £600m bid by US-firm RedBird to take over the titles.

But panic over international management of two main UK newspapers led Parliament to enact the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 – which prevents international states from buying possession, management or affect over UK newspapers and information magazines.

The Spectator was then bought final 12 months for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge-fund billionaire, who has put in Lord Gove, the previous cupboard minister, as its editor.

In an announcement, Nandy mentioned: “Britain’s free and independent press is a national asset like no other and it is right that we have strong measures in place to allow scrutiny of UK takeovers that might go against the public interest.

“We are totally upholding the necessity to safeguard our information media from international state management while recognising that information organisations should be capable to increase important funding.

“We are taking a proportionate, balanced approach to a threshold for low-risk investments that will remove a potential chilling effect on press sustainability.”