Richard Desmond has said he made an attempt to buy Daily Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror.
Desmond, making his first public comments since reports about talks of Trinity Mirror buying the Express emerged in March, said that Northern and Shell had tried to make a counter offer for the Mirror titles.
“We tried through a major global investment house to arrange a meeting so that we ourselves could buy the Mirror Group,” Desmond said. “Whilst their chairman David Grigson was interested, I understand [chief executive Simon] Fox blocked the meeting so it did not happen.”
City sources believe the “major global investment house” could be Goldman Sachs, with which Desmond has historic ties, although this has not been confirmed.
Desmond has broken his silence after taking exception to comments made by Fox about the extent of potential deal for Trinity to buy Express Newspapers from Northern & Shell.
Desmond said a deal has never really been on the cards and that he has never spoken to Fox directly on the subject.
In fact, he said he has only ever met Fox twice, once “briefly” at the Mirror’s Pride of Britain awards, and “many years ago” when he worked for music retailer HMV.
“It is true that an approach was made through Barclays Capital about the possibility of the Mirror buying the Express group, but I personally never had a conversation and never heard of any proposal that seemed to relate to the real world,” he said.
Desmond made the accusation that Trinity Mirror was over-stating the idea of a deal as a “cheap” way to bolster the group’s share price.
“For the avoidance of doubt I have spent 40 years building up the only major private media group in the UK, with massive cash reserves should we wish to make an acquisition,” he said. “I have my own plans for the future of Northern & Shell, I have the resources to invest and the determination to expand and grow right across the group.”
