LONDON Tycoons to buy papers

The billionaire twin brothers look to expand their media holdings.
LONDON (AP) -- The twin tycoons who have struck a deal to take over Conrad Black's press empire defy the tradition of the flamboyant media baron. They are rarely photographed, almost never interviewed and live in luxurious isolation on their own island.
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, 69, this weekend announced their plan to buy a controlling interest in Hollinger Inc., the Toronto-based parent company of newspaper publisher Hollinger International Inc. which owns London's Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post.
Hollinger said Saturday it had fired Black as chairman and was suing him for more than $200 million it alleges was improperly diverted to him, an associate and entities he controls.
If the Barclays' $466 million deal clears regulatory approval, the brothers will expand media holdings that already include The Scotsman, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based daily, and The Business, a struggling weekly.
"It's a done deal," David Barclay was quoted as saying in an interview with The Guardian newspaper of London.
"There will be no regulatory problem, none at all. It's a formality," The Guardian quoted him as saying in a report published today. However, he said that gaining regulatory approval was a condition of completing the deal.
Eclectic portfolio
Newspapers are one facet of an eclectic portfolio built by the twins, self-made multimillionaires who left school at 16.
The sons of Scottish migrants to London, the brothers reportedly worked as painters and decorators before getting into property development by buying boarding houses and converting them into hotels.
Over the years they have owned shares in hotels, casinos and Liverpool's Cavern Club, where the Beatles got their start. They bought a foundering newspaper, The European, in 1992, and closed it six years later.
They also own British newspapers the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday, the Littlewoods catalog clothing retailer and London's landmark Ritz Hotel.
Last year, the Sunday Times estimated their worth at $1.16 billion.
Because they run a private company, the Barclays had an advantage over others interested in acquiring The Daily Telegraph and other Hollinger assets.
"This may look like a cheap price. But this purchase is not without risks. No public company could have transacted with Black without open-ended indemnities he couldn't have afforded to give," The Guardian quoted David Barclay as saying. "But we can take that risk. We were the only game in town for Black."
Few conditions
Barclay was quoted as saying the brothers attached few conditions to their offer.
"The conditions are that we pass the regulators and that under Canadian law we have to tender an offer to the other shareholders open for 35 days. If during that 35 days there is a 'material change,' we can call it off," he said.
The brothers are more detached newspaper proprietors than Black, who made sure his papers reflected his right-wing views and wrote sharp letters to the editor for publication when he disagreed with the paper's line.
David Barclay suggested that The Daily Telegraph, a staunch supporter of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, might take a different line under the brothers' direction.
Roy Greenslade, veteran media columnist with The Guardian, said the twins had a reputation for investing in their newspapers, but often to little effect. They lost millions when The European closed; The Business, which is distributed free with the Mail on Sunday newspaper, reportedly does poorly.