Oliver Dowden to meet lieutenant of UAE power broker overseeing Telegraph takeover
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The Deputy Prime Minister is to meet a senior lieutenant of the UAE power broker overseeing the attempted UAE takeover of The Telegraph, it has emerged.
Oliver Dowden, who is responsible for deciding whether to investigate the bid by RedBird IMI as a potential threat to national security, is visiting the UAE this week for meetings about business investment into the UK.
The meetings will include one on Thursday with Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, the Cabinet Office said.
He reports to chairman Sultan Al Jaber, a powerful figure in Abu Dhabi, who runs its oil company and also oversees International Media Investments (IMI), which is providing three-quarters of the funding for the Telegraph bid. Mr Al Jaber will not attend the meeting with Mr Dowden.
IMI has a record of censorship and editorial interference in its media assets, which include Sky News Arabia, the newspaper The National and CNN Business Arabic. Its owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice president of the UAE.
Cabinet Office figures have said Mr Dowden will not talk about the Telegraph takeover during his trip, despite the scrutiny it has brought to relations with the Gulf autocracy.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, also known as Masdar, in December agreed to buy a 49 per cent stake in Britain’s Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the world’s largest offshore turbine development.
The deal was struck despite sharp cost increases in the offshore wind industry, which have cast doubt over the financial viability of some of its big players and projects.
Mr Dowden’s trip to the Gulf, which has also included stops in Kuwait and Qatar, is a signal of how investment from such oil-rich states has become a key part of the Government’s business strategy.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between the UAE and a US private equity firm, is hoping to gain control of The Telegraph following an ongoing investigation of whether it poses a threat to press freedom.
The fund, led by Jeff Zucker, the US media executive, has said it will guarantee editorial independence and that fears over UAE influence are unfounded because its IMI will be an entirely passive investor.
The Culture Secretary will have public interest powers to block or approve the takeover following reviews by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority, which may not be completed until next winter.
The Cabinet Office, which Mr Dowden heads, has powers to launch a separate intervention if the UAE’s ownership of The Telegraph is deemed to have national security implications.
This month, he intervened to protect Briain’s national security by imposing restrictions on the UAE’s 15 per cent stake in Vodafone, the mobile operator. The following day, he released an unusual statement to emphasise that the powers he used were “entirely country-agnostic”.
Ministers have this week come under pressure from MPs to trigger a national security intervention in the takeover of The Telegraph. No such move has been announced. The Cabinet Office never confirms whether such a step is being considered until an intervention is made public.
The process, brought in three years ago, usually sees officials scrutinise the details of deals before recommendations are made to ministers, who then make the final call.
MPs from across the political divide have requested the attempted takeover to be called in on national security ground in recent weeks.
Ofcom and the CMA have been given until March 11 to complete their investigations of the Telegraph takeover.
