My Department has today written to Penultimate Investments Holdings Ltd and the Daily Mail and General Trust, the current and proposed owners of the Telegraph Media Group Holdings, in relation to the proposed acquisition of TMGH by DMGT.
In my written statement to Parliament and by letters to the parties, all on 20 January 2026, I confirmed that I was minded to intervene in and refer the proposed acquisition to a phase 1 investigation under the Enterprise Act 2002. Having given the parties the opportunity to make representations to me regarding the concerns raised in my letters to them, and having considered those representations in detail, I have now reached my final decision.
I have today informed the parties of my decision to issue a public interest intervention notice in relation to the proposed acquisition of TMGH by DMGT.
My decision to issue a PIIN relates to concerns I have that public interest considerations—as set out in section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002—may be relevant to the proposed acquisition of TMGH by DMGT, and that these warrant further investigation. The public interest considerations concerned are the need for a sufficient plurality of views in each UK market for news media and the need for a sufficient plurality of persons with control of media enterprises serving every different UK audience.
My decision to issue a PIIN triggers a requirement for the Competition and Markets Authority to report to me on jurisdictional and competition matters and for Ofcom to report to me on the media public interest considerations in section 58(2B) and 58(2C)(a) of the Enterprise Act 2002. I have asked both the CMA and Ofcom to report back to me by 10 June 2026.
My role as the Secretary of State in this process is quasi-judicial and procedures are in place to ensure that I act independently and follow a process that is fair, transparent and impartial.
DCMS will update Parliament after both reports from the regulators have been received and considered.
The PIIN can be found on gov.uk.
[HCWS1338]