Thomas Crosbie Holdings, owner of the Examiner newspaper, and Independent News & Media (IN&M) has not made the shortlist for Trinity Mirror's northern newspaper titles.

Trinity Mirror, led by chief executive Ms Sly Bailey, has decided to shortlist three venture capital groups and the British regional publisher, Archant, which was a major shareholder in the Dublin Daily newspaper.

While none of the parties was willing to comment publicly yesterday, it is understood Thomas Crosbie may have been excluded on price.

Trinity Mirror did not pursue the IN&M bid because it wants to sell all the titles and the IN&M bid did not include an offer for the staunchly unionist News Letter.

Sir Anthony O'Reilly and fellow IN&M exeuctives decided not to bid for the News Letter because they were concerned that, as owners of Belfast Telegraph, such a bid might trigger competition issues.

Apart from Archant, the bidders are understood to be Mr Simon Robinson, former managing director of the Mirror Group's northern titles/Kleinwort Development Capital; former Mirror executive Mr David Montgomery and venture capitalists 3i; and Mr David Palmer, a former Independent director who has made a joint offer with HgCapital, a London-based private equity firm.

Archant, a private firm, publishes several regional titles in Britain, including the East Anglian Daily Times. Earlier this year it had to write off a €1.4 million investment in the Dublin Daily when it ceased operations in July.

Trinity Mirror may shortlist another media company but it expects to receive final offers by October 17th.

Executives at the Irish titles will make presentations to the bidders next week.