MPs Raise National Security Concerns Over UAE-Backed Telegraph Offer

(Bloomberg) -- Conservative lawmakers have invoked national security concerns as they push the government to scrutinize the UAE’s support of the Barclay family’s push to reclaim the Telegraph.

The Barclay family has offered to pay over £1 billion ($1.25 billion) of debt to Lloyds Banking Group Plc to reclaim control of the Telegraph titles. That effort is reportedly backed by media investment vehicle RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners and the United Arab Emirates-based International Media Investments.

In a letter to UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, six Tory lawmakers called for the government to intervene under the National Security and Investment Act to probe the structure of that investment vehicle and its relationship with the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. The letter — seen by Bloomberg — also said ministers should issue a Public Interest Intervention Notice to further scrutinize the proposed deal.