Daily Mail & General Trust announced on Wednesday the company's sale of a 75.1% stake in the paper to Evening Press Ltd, a company formed by Lebedev and his son Yevgeny.
"The funds to be invested within two years number tens of millions of pounds," Lebedev told journalists when asked about his investment plans.
The businessman said he had sold property in Italy and one of his planes to take over the paper. "I want the newspaper to become profitable in several years," Lebedev said, adding that the Evening Standard had no debts despite losing money.
The Evening Standard is a regional tabloid published in London with around 287,000 daily readers in southeast England. Having seen readership eroded by free competitors, the paper is reported to be running losses of around 10 million British pounds ($14 million) per year.
Lebedev said he would not interfere in the editorial policy of the paper. "What is the use of me? What can I do? I am not a journalist after all," he said. He added that personnel changes were inevitable, although they had mostly been carried out by the previous owner.
He said he hoped the Evening Standard would be unbiased in its coverage of events.
British newspaper The Times said that under the deal, which is expected to be signed next month, Lebedev would pay a symbolic 1 pound fee ($1.39) for the paper.
The chairman of Daily Mail & General Trust, Lord Rothermere, said the company would retain a 24.9% stake in the paper and "will continue to provide a range of support services to the paper but will not have a seat on the board or any involvement in its editorial policy."
The purchase has caused controversy in Britain over the Russian oligarch's background in the KGB.
The 49-year-old former-KGB colonel holds a 30% share in Russia's Aeroflot and along with former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev owns a 49% stake in the Novaya Gazeta paper.
