Telegraph frontrunner has ‘high confidence’ in bid despite losing backer

The frontrunner in the race to buy The Telegraph has maintained that his bid for the paper is still on track despite one of his key backers withdrawing its financial support.

Dovid Efune, the British owner of the New York Sun, had entered exclusive talks to buy The Telegraph Media Group last month after trumping better-known rivals with a £550m bid for the newspaper group.

The US-based media mogul, who grew up in Manchester, has just two weeks to complete the requisite due diligence process and prove he has sufficient financial backing to push the offer through.

Efune has been working with boutique New York-based investment bank Liontree to source the funding.

But according to reports, one of the key backers whose interest they had lent on until now, Oaktree Capital will no longer be providing financial backing to the bid, jeopardising Efune’s tilt at the paper.

Should Efune not stump up evidence of sufficient support by the end of November deadline, the auction for the right-leaning broadsheets will enter into a third round.

However, the publishing executive has hit back at claims Oaktree’s withdrawal has left his bid in the air, with a spokesman for Efune telling City AM that the group had “high confidence in [their] had financing path”.

“We can confirm that Oak Tree submitted a preliminary proposal for debt financing related to the Telegraph acquisition,” he added.

“Their proposal was not competitive, so we have decided not to proceed with them and we are progressing on debt financing with a number of reputable institutions.”

Efune had been seen as a left-field bidder in the early stages of the battle for The Telegraph Media group, which now comprises The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, as well as the Telegraph website, after Sir Paul Marshall picked off The Spectator in an individual deal worth £100m.

But many other household names said to be interested in the titles – which at various stages have included Daily Mail-owner DMGT, advertising kingpin Lord Saatchi and private equity behemoth CVC Capital Partners – have since pulled out. DMGT feared that thorny anti-competition regulation would hold up or prevent their deal, while others have balked at the £550m price tag that current owners Redbird IMI have put on the paper.

Oaktree Capital declined to comment.