RedBird Capital Partners pulls out of £500m bid for The Telegraph

"The collapse of this deal lays bare the complexity of media ownership in an era of heightened scrutiny over foreign influence and editorial independence and reveals the turbulent nature of media M&A in Britain.

"Regulatory unpredictability has become a defining feature of politically sensitive sectors, where even the most carefully engineered deal cannot insulate itself from the tides of public sentiment or evolving statutory frameworks. Investors are now compelled to conduct broader due diligence - encompassing not just competition and plurality reviews, but also geopolitical and reputational risk assessments capable of unravelling transactions at the eleventh hour.

"Looking ahead, future bids will likely be more domestically anchored - expect consortium-led structures, UK-domiciled ownership, and governance mechanisms explicitly designed to demonstrate independence and transparency.

"Ultimately, this saga stands as a cautionary tale for dealmakers: in regulated markets, transactional certainty hinges as much on political optics as on financial engineering."

Giao's comments were published in Reuters and The Times, 14 November 2025.