Daily Mail owner agrees to purchase Telegraph

The owner of The Daily Telegraph, a British media outlet, said Saturday it was in advanced talks to sell itself to a major rival, a move that would further consolidate the country’s news media.

- MICHAEL DE LA MERCED

Telegraph Media Group said it was finalising terms of a deal to be sold to DMGT, the owner of The Daily Mail, the country’s biggest newspaper by circulation, for £500 million ($655 million).

The talks came a little over a week after The Telegraph said a previous suitor, American investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, had walked away from its own £500 million takeover bid.

“The Daily Telegraph is Britain's largest and best quality broadsheet newspaper, and I have grown up respecting it,” Jonathan Rothermere, the chair of DMGT and a scion of its founding family, said in a statement. “It has a remarkable history and has played a vital role in shaping Britain’s national debate over many decades”

A takeover by DMGT could face intense government scrutiny, the prospects of which were reported to have prompted RedBird’s exit.