A private equity bid is being put together to buy the Telegraph Media Group, a report in the newspaper has claimed.
CVC, which manages £164 billion of funds and is a backer of the Six Nations rugby tournament, will submit a bid in this week’s first-round auction, the report said.
Although, the plans are not finalised a deal would come two decades after it lost out to former owner the Barclay family in 2004 when it backed Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere in a rival offer.
According to the Telegraph, CVC’s renewed interest is independent of Lord Rothermere.
TMG is up for sale again after the previous government blocked its purchase by a UAE-backed consortium, Redbird IMI, bit it might still be involved as a minority shareholder, the report said.
CVC Capital became a publicly listed company when it floated in Amsterdam float in April, a move that highlighted the huge fortunes made by its three founding partners.
RedBird IMI paid £600m for a package containing The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine.
Other prospective bidders include Lord Saatchi, the advertising executive, though hedge fund billionaire Paul Marshall, the co-owner of GB News, is now said only to be interested in the Spectator magazine.