Efune, a conservative and pro-Israel Brit, runs a modest online publication and isn’t putting up much of his own cash for the deal. The newspaper’s newsroom believes that he is “likely to be a much more outspoken — and potentially divisive — owner than the media-shy Barclay family,” the Financial Times, which broke the news of the exclusivity period, reported.
Semafor reported last month that Efune and his bankers at Liontree had touted a list of financial backers that included US investment funds Oaktree; the family office of hedge-fund manager and philanthropist Michael Leffell; and the investment arm of the Canadian developer Beedie.
A spokesperson for Koch-backed Stand Together, which was formerly known as the Koch Network and invests in both private companies and non-profits, confirmed that the group had been approached about the deal. Efune didn’t respond to a text message seeking comment. (Stand Together is also an investor in Semafor.)
It’s unclear who else Efune has approached, though he does have one deep-pocketed British connection: the Tory peer Lord Michael Farmer, a Brexit backer and investor in the right-wing cable channel GB News, also disclosed that he is an investor in the New York Sun.
