Daily Mail (Daily Mail and General Trust plc) owner Lord Rothermere has pulled out of the bidding for Telegraph Media Group Limited citing concerns that the Labour government would object to the purchase. The DMGT group run by Lord Rothermere, whose family founded the Daily Mail in 1896, has told advisors overseeing the sale of the Telegraph and Spectator magazine that it would not be making a bid. They cited a change of government meant it would ?face a heightened risk of a protracted regulatory process if we were to win the auction?.

A spokesman for DMGT said: ?DMGT has decided against participating in the auction of the Telegraph Media Group (TMG). ?We believe the new statutory regime governing the ownership of UK newspapers is overly restrictive, and could curtail our ability to raise capital for our news publishing and other media businesses - both now and in the future. ?With a new government in place, we would face a heightened risk of a protracted regulatory process if we were to win the auction.

This would cast further uncertainty over TMG and could disrupt our plan to grow DMGT?s diverse stable of news titles. ?We continue to believe that DMGT would be the optimal owner of The Telegraph thanks to our unrivalled heritage in news publishing. ?DMGT has the capital and resources to make The Telegraph a long-term global success, but we cannot justify the required investment given the changing legal and regulatory backdrop?.