Hollinger moves to poison Black's deal

Hollinger International, the US unit of Conrad Black's media empire, has moved to prevent the ousted chairman from completing a £253m (€366m) deal to sell off the empire to the Barclay brothers.

In addition to filing a lawsuit in a US court, the company has also adopted a "poison pill" shareholder rights plan in an attempt to frustrate the deal.

In a statement, Hollinger International said it adopted the shareholder strategy designed to increase takeover costs by issuing new preferred shares with heavy penalties for takeovers.

Black had previously agreed to sell the empire, which includes the daily and Sunday Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times, to Press Holdings International, a British group controlled by the billionaire Barclay twins. The deal would give the Barclays 73% of its Hollinger International subsidiary. They were expected to make a formal offer this Wednesday.

Meanwhile weekend newspaper reports claim that Daily Mail owner Associated Newspapers is preparing a £500m (€724m) plus bid for the Telegraph and that Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond has told his executives that he will also bid.