Spectator managers eye buyout
EXECUTIVES at The Spectator hope to strike a management buyout deal if its parent Telegraph Group is sold.
Former proprietor Algy Cluff, who remains chairman of the 175-year-old magazine, wants to pursue a takeover by the management team if there is a change of ownership of Telegraph newspapers.
As Lord Black's Hollinger group seems about to unravel, there has been speculation that Telegraph Group's newspapers will be bought by another publisher.
Possible bidders include Richard Desmond's Express Newspapers, Daily Mail and General Trust, owner of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the London Evening Standard and This Is Money, and private equity backed investors.
So far, the Spectator's management has been given no indication by Dan Colson, now chief operating officer at Hollinger International, that the newspapers and magazine will be sold.
The Spectator falls under the umbrella of the Telegraph Group, but Cluff hopes that if the parent company is sold, the magazine's management will have the opportunity to split off and buy itself out.
As well as enjoying trophy status, The Spectator is highly profitable. It made a pre-tax profit last year of £1.4m, up from £1.3m, on sales of £7.2m against £6.7m the year before.
Cluff said: 'If there was a decision to sell the Telegraph Group, I would entirely hope The Spectator management had an opportunity of acquiring [the magazine].
'And if the Telegraph were to be sold, it would be a sad day for The Spectator. Conrad Black has been a benevolent proprietor.'
He refused to be drawn on who would form the management buyout team but obvious candidates would be himself, Spectator publisher Kimberley Fortier, editor Boris Johnson and deputy editor Stuart Reid.
Based in Bloomsbury, The Spectator claims to be the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language.
Speculation that Lord Black may have to sell off some titles has mounted since he appointed investment bank Lazards to conduct a review of Hollinger.
Speculation surrounding the future of Lord Black's publishing empire has increased after pressure from minority shareholders in New York-listed Hollinger International, culminating in revelations that certain payments to some senior Hollinger executives, including Black, had not been fully approved.
