The British venture capital firm 3i is believed to have entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Trinity Mirror's Irish titles.
The bid by 3i is supported by former Mirror Group chief executive Mr David Montgomery.Trinity Mirror's nine Irish titles were put up for sale in August following a strategic review by the current Mirror group chief executive Ms Sly Bailey.
The company refused to speculate on reports circulating in the British media that a deal between the two parties was imminent. A spokesman said he could not comment on when an announcement might be made.
Trinity Mirror owns two newspaper groups in the North: Century Newspapers Ltd and the Derry Journal Group. Century comprises the staunchly unionist Belfast Newsletter and the Belfast News and Farming Life.
The Derry Journal Group consists of the Derry Journal, the Donegal Democrat, the Letterkenny Listener and the Foyle News. The group used to own the Sunday Business Post but sold it two years ago to the Examiner group.
Thomas Crosbie Holdings, which owns the Examiner, and Independent News & Media (IN&M) expressed interest in the titles earlier in the process, but their bids were rejected.
The Newsletter is the most attractive asset in the Mirror's portfolio and leading Ulster Unionist politician Mr David Burnside was among those bidding for that title.
However individual bids for the Newsletter were rejected by Trinity Mirror, which wanted to sell the titles in one group.
Several venture capital companies are believed to have made it into the final phase of bidding.
Mr Simon Robinson, former managing director of the Mirror Group's Northern Ireland titles, lodged a bid with Kleinwort Development Capital. Former IN&M director Mr David Palmer teamed up with HgCapital.
Another bid was lodged by Archant, the privately owned publisher of the East Anglian Daily Times. This company was a major shareholder in the Dublin Daily newspaper, which shut several months ago.
