Black sues to stop Telegraph sale :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: Black sues to stop Telegraph sale

Posted by admin on Friday, July 02, 2004 - 03:09 AM

Conrad Black is suing to stop the sell-off of the Daily Telegraph and its sister titles without his approval.
Hollinger International, the papers' parent, is selling the two Telegraph titles and the Spectator magazine to the Barclay brothers for £665m. Lord Black was removed as chief executive of Hollinger International over disputed payments in November. Now his holding company Hollinger Inc, which has a controlling stake, wants a veto on the proposed deal. The sale amounts to a disposal of "a substantial majority of (International's) value and... therefore requires shareholder approval", Hollinger Inc said in a statement. International disagrees, and says it therefore does not need to hold a vote. Court arguments The proposed suit marks the latest twist in the long-running dispute between Lord Black and the newspaper group with which he has been closely identified for years. The peer's ousting in November from the top job followed the identification by International of what it said were unauthorised payments by Black to himself and other directors. A court case in Delaware in February blocked a private sale by Lord Black of his interest in International to the billionaire Barclay twins. The judge in that case, Leo Strine, was highly critical of Lord Black's behaviour - and his demeanour in court. Following the case, International sued its former chief for $1.25bn. Controlling stake But now the same judge has given permission for Hollinger Inc to sue. A success would effectively grant Lord Black a veto over the Telegraph sale. Hollinger Inc claims it has not been given vital financial information, particularly about tax liabilities the sale would produce. Lord Black's own company, Ravelston, has a majority stake in Hollinger Inc. Hollinger Inc, in turn, owns just 18.2% of Hollinger International - though most of its shares belong to a special class which means Inc has 68% of the voting rights. That stake appears to have fallen in the nine days since the Telegraph sale was announced. At that point, Hollinger Inc said it had 29.7% of the shares and 72.3% of the votes.

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