The change of control clause at the jointly owned Docklands print plant has been triggered by the completion of the 665m sale of the Telegraph Group to the Barclay brothers on Monday (30 July).

Desmond now has 42 days to formalise his intentions. The price for the 78m turnover business would be settled by arbitration and this issue proved impossible to resolve when the Telegraph itself attempted to buy out the Express stake after Desmond bought the newspaper group in 2000.

West Ferry has traditionally paid out large dividends to its owners, although no dividend was paid last year. It is located on a Docklands site that is viewed as ripe for redevelopment by some observers. The company has a 24m net pension deficit.