LONDON, Sept 10 (Askume) – British hedge fund founder Paul Marshall has bought political magazine The Spectator for 100 million pounds ($131 million), the seller, RedBird IMI, said on Tuesday.
The magazine, which is influential in Conservative circles, was previously edited by former prime minister Boris Johnson before Britain blocked Abu Dhabi-backed Redbird IMI from owning the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, which was sold in June along with The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.
Marshall, the chief investment officer of global hedge fund Marshall Wace, bought the magazine through his Old Queen Street Media (OQS) company, which already owned the online magazine Unherd.
He is also a supporter of the right-wing TV channel GB News.
“As a long-time reader of the Spectator, I am delighted that it has been added to the OQS stable version,” he said.
“OQS plans to achieve great results by investing in one of the greatest sports in the world.
“I believe OQS will be an excellent mentor, based on its values and track record of success for its audience.”
OQS said Unherd and The Spectator would remain fully independent and have separate editorial and governance structures.
RedBird IMI also said that the Telegraph title has attracted keen interest from bidders across the world. The second round of bidding will take place later this month.
RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker said the group’s goal is to find a viable buyer for The Spectator and complete a transaction that makes strong economic sense.
“We are committed to moving quickly to take advantage of the strength of the property and the significant interest from an eager market,” he said in a statement.
“We have achieved all of these objectives with OQS Media and hope to have the same success as we had in finding a buyer for Telegraph Media Group.”
Sources had earlier said Marshall’sThe Telegraph is also interested.
($1 = 0.7635 British pounds)
