30 July 2004 – Read today’s legal news, law firm news & legal research articles at LAWFUELHerbert Smith achieved a successful completion to the sale by the Hollinger International group of Telegraph Group Limited, the publisher of Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator. Herbert Smith worked closely with Hollinger International’s US lawyers, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP.
The purchaser was Press Acquisitions Limited, the acquisition vehicle of the Barclay brothers, and the price was approximately £729.5 million, representing £665 million for the shares of Telegraph Group Limited and approximately £64.5 million for cash in the Telegraph group.
The successful auction process for the sale of the Telegraph group had followed a strategic review by Hollinger International of its business and operations and the departure of Conrad Black as Chairman and Chief Executive of Hollinger International. Following the signing of the contract on 22 June there had been litigation in Delaware concerning the rights of the shareholders to approve the sale which, after appeal, did not finally prevent completion.
Louise Freestone commented:
“The completion arrangements represented a very satisfactory conclusion to months of work on the sale and involved some complex funding and payment arrangements on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The Herbert Smith completion team was led by Anthony Macaulay, Stephen Barnard and Louise Freestone with Colin Campbell, Alan Montgomery, Fiona Salthouse, Leonie Pettitt and Brian O’Malley (corporate) and Derek Hill (tax).
Lovells (Marco Compagnoni) acted for the Barclay brothers.