LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Britain's government on Friday blocked an Abu Dhabi-backed group from taking ownership of the media group that owns the Telegraph newspaper while its takeover bid is scrutinised by regulators over freedom of expression concerns.
The government intervened in the planned deal on Thursday when it asked regulators to examine the deal.
On Friday, culture and media minister Lucy Frazer set out an enforcement order preventing any transfer of ownership of the Telegraph Media Group without her permission and also stopping any changes of its structure or senior editorial staff.
As well as the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper, the group owns the Spectator magazine.
They are up for sale after Lloyds Banking Group in June seized control following a long-running dispute with owners, the Barclay family.
Persons:
Lucy Frazer, Barclay, Jeff Zucker, Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Camilla Tominey, Tominey, William Schomberg, Nick Zieminski
Organizations:
Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, Ofcom, Spectator, Lloyds Banking Group, IMI, CNN, United Arab Emirates, Thomson
Locations:
Abu Dhabi, UAE, Gulf