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A private equity firm is planning a takeover bid for The Telegraph newspaper group, following the withdrawal of Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere last week.
Telegraph Media Group is looking for a buyer after its proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by the previous government earlier this year.
CVC Capital Partners, owner of sports brands such as the Six Nations and La Liga, is preparing a bid for the media group, according to The Telegraph.
The deal would make it the first UK news outlet owned by a private equity group.
CVC is a Luxembourg-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately £156 billion of assets under management. It invests in over 130 companies worldwide.
However, plans are not finalised and there is no certainty that a formal offer will be made, according to reports.
The deadline for submitting initial proposals to buy the media company is later this week.
This comes after Lord Rothermere pulled out of the bidding for the paper citing fears the Labour government would oppose the purchase.
DMGT, led by Lord Rothermere, whose family founded the Daily Mail in 1896, told advisers last week it would not be bidding.
They cited that a change in government would mean that “we would face a greater risk of a protracted regulatory process if we were to win the auction.”
Earlier this year, the Conservative government intervened to prevent the Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI fund from buying the newspaper group.
Last year, previous Telegraph The owners, the Barclay family, were forced to put the media group up for sale to pay off debts to lenders Lloyds Bank.
After a lengthy process, the administrators of Telegraph Media Group have agreed to sell it to the investment fund RedBird IMI.
The deal saw RedBird IMI pay approximately £600 million to buy the business and agree to assume £600 million of related debts.
Other possible suitors linked to a deal include Yorkshire Post publisher National World and former advertising chief Lord Saatchi.
GB News investor Paul Marshall is among those reportedly interested in buying the shares.
Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch's News UK is also said to be interested in buying The Spectator, but is unlikely to be in a position to buy The Telegraph's titles due to competition concerns over its ownership of The Times.
CVC declined to comment on the reports.
