German publisher Springer sizing up Daily Telegraph purchase

[Kellanved]

FRANKFURT - German newspaper publisher Axel Springer wants to go it alone in buying the British Daily Telegraph and is prepared to offer between GBP 600 and 700 million (EUR 900 million) for the newspaper, it was reported Friday.

The German business daily Handelsblatt, quoting sources close to Springer, said the publisher now sees a joint bid for the Telegraph with US media magnate Haim Saban as unlikely.

According to Handelsblatt, Springer chairman Mathias Doepfner was in London Wednesday with fellow directors and members of the supervisory board to discuss the purchase with Telegraph management.

However there was no official confirmation from Springer whose spokeswoman, Edda Fels, said that as a matter of course the company did not comment on market speculation.
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Extremely bad news: Springer is the German Murdoch (OK, Kirch was the German TV Murdoch, but Springer is the German newspaper Murdoch). An extremely conservative publisher - while not slightly brown as many German conservatives - they are anti-left, anti-immigration, anti-anthing social. The Springer newspapers alone have probably led to the failure of several recent reforms in Germany.