US billionaire Ken Griffin is the latest name being mentioned in connection with the auction of the Telegraph newspaper group, reportedly scheduled for later this year.
A staunch Republican supporter, a report (in the Telegraph) suggested he might provide funds for a bid from UK hedge fund guru Paul Marshall.
Forbes magazine credits Griffin with being the world’s richest hedge fund manager with a personal fortune of US$35 billion.
A founder of hedge fund Citadel LLC, he also founded the widely-used trading services group Citadel Securities.
Telegraph Media (TMG) is currently owned by Lloyds Banking, which took control earlier this year when the Barclay family offshoot that owned the business defaulted on a loan.
The Barclays are said to want to clear the debt with Lloyds and get TMG back and reportedly have had an offer of £725 million, made with funds from a Gulf-based financier, rejected by the bank.
One of the family's arguments is that a deal with them would avoid the competition enquiry a deal with a rival paper publisher, such as the Mail, would spark.
Griffin, too, has no newspaper ownership background to speak of so his involvement should also avoid a competition probe, the report suggested, though it added there was no certainty any agreement would be reached with Marshall.