NO PRIZES for guessing the City's happiest banker of the week: step forward,
I can only imagine the scene at
Their reward demonstrates the benefit of a hardball negotiating position;
Lloyds rejected a handful of lower offers before Barclays eventually offered to repay the bank in full.
That tough stance will result in a £500m-plus windfall for Lloyds' shareholders come its annual results in the first quarter; Nunn and his board will deserve credit for that amid a wider growth plan which looks challenging.
Nevertheless, what's good for the bank is not necessarily good for the Telegraph itself. The interregnum, in which the Barclays have temporary ownership but not control, is an uneasy one, while the growing revolt amongst the newspaper's senior writers, past and present, betrays an understandable anxiety about the prospect of foreign state ownership.
Their voices may prove to be influential in a quasi-judicial process run on a tight timetable, and with
RedBird IMI is adamant that its assurances of editorial independence, along with a legally binding guarantee, should provide sufficient comfort to the government. The response of readers polled on the issue suggests the bidder will need to go further.
A restructured deal reducing the proportion of
(c) 2023 City A.M., source