RUSSIAN OLIGARCH and ex-KGB officer Alexander Lebedev is continuing an effort to buy a controlling stake in the London Evening Standardnewspaper from Daily Mail and General Trust Plc, a person with direct knowledge of the bid said.
An answer on the proposal to acquire 75 per cent plus one share is expected imminently, a person familiar with the talks said. A Daily Mail spokesman declined to comment. Mr Lebedev, a 49-year-old millionaire who was worth billions until markets collapsed last year, said he has held talks with the owners of top UK newspapers, including Evening Standardowner Lord Rothermere, for more than a year. "This is not my way to make money, but I'd like to explain to the public that newspapers are something they should love and cherish," Mr Lebedev said in an interview yesterday. "Obviously I would be in charge of the financial side," and wouldn't play a role in news content, he said. Mr Lebedev, who made his fortune in banking, is founder of Moscow news magazine Korrespondentand owns a stake in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. He is part of a wave of Russian oligarchs who have snapped up UK assets in the past several years. Roman Abramovich bought London's Chelsea Football Club in 2003, Alisher Usmanov is the largest investor in the Arsenal Football Club and Nikolai Smolensky owns British sports carmaker TVR Engineering.
Forbesmagazine in May ranked Mr Lebedev as Russia's 39th richest man, with a net worth of $3.1 billion. His business interests include banking, agriculture and construction. Mr Lebedev has also signalled interest in the Independent, a UK national newspaper with a daily circulation of about 200,000 that has experienced job losses, budget cuts and a decline in advertising revenue. – (Bloomberg)