The owner of the New York Sun has emerged as the latest bidder to take control of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
Dovid Efne was born in the UK. New York Sun assets three years agois expected to submit its bid by the second bidding deadline on September 27th.
Sources have confirmed that Efune is a contender, but would likely need the backing of several other major investors to mount a competitive bid.
According to reports, Efune has secured backing from institutions including US investment funds Oaktree and Hudson Bay Capital, the family office of hedge fund manager and philanthropist Michael Leffel and the investment arm of Canadian developer Beedie.
In 2021, Efune acquired the assets of the New York Sun, a tabloid newspaper published in New York from 2002 to 2008, in a deal with the paper's founding editor, Seth Lipsky.
Lipsky ran the New York Sun when it was a print paper and continued publishing it after it moved to a smaller online edition.
Efne is a former editor of the Jewish publication The Algemeiner Journal and is well known for expressing pro-Israel views on social media.
He has been editor-in-chief and CEO of The Algemeiner since 2008, overseeing the paper's relaunch in English.
The Algemeiner was founded in 1972 as a Yiddish-language weekly magazine.
Efune's bid would require investor backing and could include investors already known to be involved in a bid for Telegraph Media Group (TMG), the people said.
Sir Paul Marshall, who earlier this week struck a deal to buy the TMG-owned political weekly The Spectator for £100 million, is leading the Telegraph bid as part of a consortium backed by US billionaire Ken Griffin, founder of hedge fund Citadel, who is one of four suitors.
Rival bidders identified so far include former prime minister Nadhim Zahawi, but it is unclear whether they have received a formal commitment from a billionaire backer who has been in talks to fund a £600m bid.
UK-listed media group National World is also thought to still be in the running, while private equity group CVC, which organises the Six Nations tournament, is thought to be in talks with other bidders about a joint bid.
But it is unclear how serious the talks were or whether any formal progress has been made.
