Conrad Black and...........the Carlyle Group

[Eubulides <paraconsistent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pentagon bankers may bail out Black

'Ex-Presidents Club' ready to throw lifeline to embattled Telegraph owner

Jamie Doward and Jessica Hodgson
Sunday November 23, 2003
The Observer

A powerful banking group with close links to the Pentagon, which has also
invested money on behalf of the Bin Laden family, is in talks to bail out
beleaguered Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black.

The revelation suggests that Britain's bestselling broadsheet - coveted by
rival newspaper barons because of its political influence - may not go
under the hammer after all, as Lord Black tries to quell a shareholder
rebellion in the face of allegations that he and several acolytes pocketed
millions of dollars that was not theirs to take.

Daily Express owner Richard Desmond and the Daily Mail & General Trust,
which owns the Daily Mail, are keen to buy the Telegraph titles, despite
the fact that questions over the concentration of media ownership would be
raised.

The Carlyle Group, known as the Ex-Presidents Club because of the number
of former world leaders it employs, is considering taking a stake in
Hollinger International, which owns the Telegraph titles, the Jerusalem
Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, according to those close to the firm.

'It's unusual for a group of assets to come to the market like this. We
would look to sell off the Jerusalem Post and Hollinger's stake in the New
York Sun. Conrad [Black] would have to step out of management, but that
does not mean he would have to let go of his equity stake,' said a Carlyle
source. 'Ideally, we would look to take a 25-40 per cent stake. That would
allow us to put people on the board,' the source added.

The move would represent a coup for Black, who is desperate not to sell
the Telegraph titles, which have given him considerable influence within
British politics and earned him a close friendship with Margaret Thatcher.

Carlyle, - which employs former Prime Minister John Major as a director,
boasts George Bush Snr and his Secretary of State, James Baker, as
advisers, and is headed by Frank Carlucci, Ronald Reagan's Defence
Secretary - has invested in media firms previously. The group once owned
40 per cent of France's Le Figaro, and more recently acquired part of
French conglomerate Vivendi's publishing assets.

It also part-owns Qinetiq, the Government's privatised defence research
laboratories, and CSX Lines, a logistics firm that specialises in shipping
heavy equipment for the military. In the past, Carlyle has owned Vinnell,
a company that trained the Saudi army.

If Carlyle - which, despite being only 15 years old, manages more than $14
billion in funds on behalf of investors such as George Soros and the Bin
Laden family (who are estranged from their son Osama) - does take a stake
in Hollinger, questions are bound to be asked over the links between the
two firms, both of which have powerful links to the military.

Leading foreign policy hawks Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger sit on the
Hollinger board. Black himself is a member of the secretive Bilderberg
group, an organisation comprising the world's leading businessmen and
politicians, which some have accused of being an alternative world
government.

In a separate move, it has emerged that Wall Street fund manager Tweedy
Browne will take legal action against the Hollinger board if it is not
satisfied with the company's actions.

Shareholders are angry that tens of millions of dollars that Black and
fellow directors took in 'non-compete' fees did not go to Hollinger.

'I want to know how this board came to pay out a red cent to these
people,' said Tweedy Browne analyst Laura Jeresky.

Hollinger is the subject of an inquiry by the US Securities and Exchange
Commission. Investigators are keen to understand the company's
relationship with Ravelston Corporation, which is privately owned by Black
and has been the beneficiary of millions of dollars which shareholders say
should be returned to them.

Toronto-based Ravelston pays millions of dollars in management fees to
Ravelston Management Inc (RMI). There are suggestions that RMI may be
based in a tax haven. Hollinger spokesman Paul Healy declined to comment.


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To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for
originality. There aren't any. [Les Paul]