UAE-backed group sells Spectator magazine after UK lockdown

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Right-wing British magazine The Spectator reported on Tuesday its sale to a hedge fund manager after the UK government voiced opposition to a takeover of its parent company by a US-UAE joint venture.

US-Emirati consortium RedBird IMI last year struck a 1.2 billion pound ($1.6 billion) deal to buy Telegraph Media Group, owner of the 196-year-old Telegraph weekly and newspapers.

However, the previous Conservative UK government ordered the companies to quickly resell TMG because of the potential impact of the decision on free speech, given Abu Dhabi’s press censorship practices.

The right-wing newspaper The Spectator, once edited by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has reported that the paper has been bought by hedge fund manager Paul Marshall for £100m.

The Telegraph newspapers – the UK’s wide-ranging, right-wing newspapers – are still looking for a new buyer.

Redbird IMI is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and owner of Manchester City Football Club.

The American partner is the investment firm RedBird Capital.

“After a year of auction drama that involved sheikhs and tycoons and even led to a change in the law, The Spectator has a new owner,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Fraser Nelson, said in a statement.

“If The Spectator were to be sold to the Emirati government, as was planned, we would face obvious questions about our operational and editorial independence.”

Founded in 1828, The Spectator is one of the oldest magazines in the world still in print.

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