Axel Springer pulls out of auction for Telegraph Media - report

Germany’s Axel Springer has reportedly pulled out of an auction to buy Telegraph Media Group after baulking at the price expectations for the UK publisher.

The Financial Times cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying that the proposed price tag of around £600m was too high for an asset primarily rooted in print rather than digital distribution.

It comes a month after the media group - whose titles include German tabloid Bild and US website Politico - expressed interest in the auction for the parent company of The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator magazine.

Other bidders have become concerned about whether to proceed given this week’s offer by the Barclay family to repay all of the £1.1bn in debt behind the Telegraph group.