The British newspaper The Telegraph, along with its Sunday edition The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine, will go on sale after unpaid debts of their parent company, Bank of Scotland said on Wednesday. Bank of Scotland - to which the group is indebted - said that "due to outstanding debts and without any sign of repayment, Bank of Scotland unfortunately had no choice but to appoint receivers for B.UK. Limited", the parent company that controls the Telegraph Media Group, owned by the wealthy Barclay family.
Bank of Scotland explains that this is an "act of last resort", failing to reach an agreement with the group for the repayment of debts. According to the British media, the amount of debt amounts to about one billion pounds (1.16 billion euros). The bank has appointed AlixPartners as receiver. AlixPartners clarified that the procedure would not prevent publications from continuing their activities "normally".
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According to AlixPartners, Howard and Aidan Barclay have been removed from their directorships at the Telegraph Media Group and The Spectator magazine. According to industry experts, the securities could be worth between 500 and 600 million pounds (581 to nearly 700 million euros). "As AlixPartners has made clear, this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of Telegraph and Spectator," the Barclay family said, noting that discussions were continuing with the bank. The twin brothers Frederick and David Barclay, who died in 2021, bought the newspapers of The Telegraph group in 2004 for 665 million pounds (773 million euros). The two brothers built a vast empire that began with hotels and expanded to include retail and media.
