Exclusive: Cross-party group including peers warns of risk of ‘potential Chinese state influence’ in private equity firm
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has called on ministers to investigate how a US private equity company is funding its £500m takeover of the Telegraph.
In a letter sent to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, last week, the MPs said there was a risk of “potential Chinese state influence” in RedBird Capital.
They said the firm’s chair, John Thornton, sat on the advisory council of China’s sovereign wealth fund and had high-level meetings with Chinese Communist party figures in 2024 and this year.
RedBird Capital announced last month it had agreed a deal to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, ending two years of uncertainty over the future of the titles.
