Publisher Telegraph, Spectator magazine kick off sale process

Oct 20 (Reuters) – Newspaper publisher Telegraph Media Group and the Spectator magazine on Friday launched a formal sale process for the businesses.

The Telegraph group could fetch 600 million pounds ($726.72 million) from the sale, Sky News had previously reported.

In June, restructuring group AlixPartners said Bank of Scotland had appointed receivers for the shares of the publisher’s owners, who failed to repay loans from the bank.

The receivers said they would look for ways to recover the debts for the bank, which is a member of the Lloyds Banking Group.

In August, London-listed publisher National World had confirmed its interest in the Telegraph group, which owns the newspapers, and the company that runs The Spectator.

National World is sounding out potential investors to help finance a bid for the group, Reuters reported last month.

($1 = 0.8256 pounds)