owner Boehly eyes bid for UK's National World
28/03/2025 10:28
Boehly's Eldridge Media considers buying National World NWOR open to superior offers despite existing takeover deal Shares rise 4.6% Adds shares in paragraph 3, background in 9-11, details throughout March 28 - English soccer club Chelsea's co-owner Todd Boehly is considering making a proposal to buy National World NWOR.L, publisher of The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post titles, the British media company said on Friday. The company said it has received confirmation of a potential offer from Boehly's Eldridge Media Holdings (EMH), without giving details of possible terms or timing. Shares in the London-listed group were up 4.6% at 22.8 pence by 1045 GMT. The news came after Sky News reported earlier in the day that Boehly and National World founder David Montgomery were in talks about a joint offer for the Daily Telegraph. Eldridge and National World did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Sky News report. National World had already agreed to a 21 pence per share takeover offer from a unit of media company Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd last month. It said however it would "consider the terms of any proposal put forward by EMH that may deliver superior value to National World shareholders". National World had a market capitalization of 58.1 million pounds ($75.2 million) as of Thursday's close. The sale process for the Telegraph has been protracted. Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI effectively took control of the newspaper and the Spectator magazine in December 2023 when it repaid a debt owed by then-owner the Barclay family to Lloyds Bank. However the British government opposed a transfer of the influential right-leaning newspaper, forcing RedBird IMI to put it up for sale in April last year. ($1 = 0.7729 pounds) (Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Jan Harvey) ((Shashwat.Awasthi@tr.com))