The former homeowners of The Daily Telegraph have tabled a blockbuster £1bn bid that they consider will finish rival suitors’ hopes of shopping for the broadsheet newspapers.

Sky News has learnt that the Barclay household has lined up financing from Abu Dhabi buyers to lodge a knockout provide that might repay the debt owed by their firms to Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s greatest excessive avenue lender.

Insiders stated the Barclay household’s newest proposal had been lodged in the previous couple of days, in an try to derail an auction of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator present affairs journal that was as a consequence of get underway as early as Monday.

An provide of £1bn could be anticipated to behave as a critical deterrent to different potential bidders for the titles, who embody the hedge fund billionaire Sir Paul Marshall, the German media big Axel Springer and Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail proprietor.

The Barclays’ newest provide got here simply weeks after a proposal valued at £725m was submitted to Lloyds, and underlines the household’s willpower to regain possession of two of Britain’s most influential newspapers.

Lloyds could search to withstand any strain to formally terminate the broader Telegraph sale course of instantly whereas it awaits proof of funding from the Barclay household.

City sources stated on Monday that the last word supply of the financing for its bid was unclear, though members of the Abu Dhabi ruling household together with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan – the last word proprietor of a controlling stake in Manchester City Football Club – are understood to have been concerned within the talks.

Ken Costa, the veteran City banker who suggested the Barclay brothers on their buy of the Telegraph in 2004 and counts the sale of Harrods to Qatar Holding amongst his different flagship offers, is performing as a strategic adviser to the household, in keeping with folks near the method.

One insider stated the Barclay household’s proposal was deliverable and carried no regulatory danger, in contrast to some potential various bids.

Nevertheless, there may be more likely to be shut scrutiny from Ofcom, the media regulator, of a deal financed largely by abroad buyers given the sensitivity of the possession of the Conservative-supporting Telegraph titles gaining new backers within the yr earlier than a normal election

In the final two months the household has lodged a collection of proposals to repay roughly £1bn of debt it owes the excessive avenue financial institution, with most of these tabled at a big low cost to its face worth.

Until June, the newspapers had been chaired by Aidan Barclay – the nephew of Sir Frederick Barclay, the octogenarian who together with late brother Sir David engineered the takeover of the Telegraph 19 years in the past.

Lloyds had been locked in talks with the Barclays for years about refinancing loans made to them by HBOS previous to that financial institution’s rescue through the 2008 banking disaster.

In latest months, Sir Frederick has been embroiled in an acrimonious £100m court docket battle over his divorce settlement.

The Barclays beforehand owned the Ritz resort in London, and in the previous couple of months have additionally instructed bankers to promote Yodel, the parcel supply group.

Houlihan Lokey, the funding financial institution, can also be advising the Barclays on their efforts to regain possession of the newspapers.

In the previous couple of weeks, key particulars have emerged of different bidders’ efforts to wrest management of the broadsheet titles, with Sir Paul enlisting backing from fellow hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and recommendation from the previous Daily Mail and General Trust chief govt Paul Zwillenberg.

National World, the listed car run by former Mirror newspaper chief David Montgomery, has employed advisers to work on a bid, whereas the previous Daily Telegraph editor William Lewis has additionally been canvassing potential backers.

Axel Springer, which publishes the German newspaper Die Welt, has additionally registered its curiosity in taking part within the public sale, which Goldman Sachs has been appointed to supervise.

A sale for the initially mooted valuation of £600m or extra would set off a considerable writeback for Lloyds, which wrote down the worth of its loans to the Barclays a number of years in the past.

The debt the household owes to Lloyds can also be believed to incorporate some funding tied to Very Group, the Barclay-owned on-line buying enterprise.

In July, Telegraph Media Group (TMG) revealed full-year outcomes exhibiting pre-tax earnings had risen by a 3rd to about £39m in 2022.

A profitable digital subscriptions technique and “continued strong cost management” had been cited as causes for the corporate’s earnings progress.

“Our vision is to reach more paying readers than at any other time in our history, and we are firmly on track to achieve our 1 million subscriptions target in 2023 ahead of our year-end target,” stated Nick Hugh, TMG chief govt.

The sale will likely be overseen by a brand new crop of administrators led by Mike McTighe, the boardroom veteran who chairs Openreach and IG Group, the monetary buying and selling agency.

Mr McTighe has been appointed chairman of Press Acquisitions and May Corporation, the respective mum or dad firms of TMG and The Spectator (1828), which publish the media titles.

Lloyds and the Barclay household declined to remark.