Barclays wooed Black for months
THE Barclay brothers courted ousted Hollinger chairman Lord Black for eight months in a bid to buy his Hollinger Inc stake, it was revealed today.
In their formal offer document for the £260m takeover of Hollinger Inc, the Canadian company which is controlled by Black and owns 30% of Hollinger International but has 73% of its votes, the Barclays detail a string of meetings.
It began on 23 May last year when 'Sir David Barclay contacted Lord Black to indicate his interest in a possible acquisition of Lord Black's interest in Hollinger'.
Six days later, on 29 May 2003, Black 'indicated to Sir David Barclay that Lord Black's interest in Hollinger was not for sale'.
But come November and the growing corporate governance row at Hollinger International, Lord Black was back in contact with Sir David, this time indicating he might sell his stake.
The Barclays had a draft proposal to buy out Black ready by 9 December and sent it to him on 18 December. For the next month 'Sir David Barclay and Lord Black had numerous discussions to review the principal terms and conditions of the proposal' and then subsidiary agreements.
Throughout the 50-page document the Barclays stress they will not do anything that interferes with Hollinger International's current 'strategic process' under which Lazard is lining up potential bidders for the parts of the empire, including the Telegraph group.
