Activist Hedge Fund Turns Prey as Spanish Media Fight Flares Up

Joseph OughourlianPhotographer: Alberto Paredes/Europa Press/Getty Images
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Amber Capital founder Joseph Oughourlian won control of Spain’s most influential media group after a shareholder activism campaign a decade ago. Now he’s the one fighting off an ouster.

Oughourlian, a French hedge fund manager based in London, is clashing with pro-government Spanish businessmen that want him out of media company Promotora de Informaciones SA, owner of El Pais, the country’s best-known newspaper. They’re angry, in part, after his relations with the ruling Socialist party unraveled and he blocked the plan for a new pro-government TV station.