LONDON \u2014\u00a0U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Tuesday she will allow Axel Springer\u2019s purchase of the U.K.\u2019s Telegraph Media Group to proceed, a key step toward the legacy newspaper\u2019s change of ownership.<\/p>\n
In a written statement to the U.K. parliament, Nandy said she is \u201ccurrently not minded to intervene in this merger\u201d between Axel Springer, which owns POLITICO, and the Telegraph \u201con the basis of the evidence available to me at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approval is a \u201csignificant milestone toward completing the transaction,\u201d Axel Springer said in a statement<\/a>. The deal still requires regulatory approvals in Ireland and Austria, but completion is expected in the second quarter of this year, the statement added.<\/p>\n Chief Executive Mathias D\u00f6pfner said:\u00a0\u201cWe are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition. After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in The Telegraph\u2019s editorial excellence and international growth.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.K.\u2019s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport had said the German media conglomerate\u2019s acquisition of the right-leaning British newspaper would be assessed on competition and foreign influence grounds when the deal was announced in March. <\/a><\/p>\n