Before the final bid deadline on Friday it had been thought that most bids were around the £500m mark but the ante has been upped.
Stockbroker Collins Stewart bid less than £500m for the media group, which owns the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, and was not allowed to proceed to the second round of the auction.
Investment bank Lazard, which is running the auction, had asked for initial bids to be above £500m. Collins Stewart had planned to immediately float the Telegraph Group as a public company if it won the auction.
The auction is being run against a backdrop of legal battles. Hollinger International, Telegraph Group parent, is trying to stop former chief executive Lord Conrad Black selling his controlling stake in Hollinger to the Barclay brothers.
Hollinger claims Lord Black acted dishonestly when he agreed to sell to the Barclay brothers without board approval. The hearing at Delaware Chancery Court is expected to last for three days, with Lord Black due in court on Friday.
It is understood that the auction process will now be put on hold until the court case is decided one way or the other.
With Collins Stewart out, those left in the race are: Express newspapers owner Richard Desmond; and former owners of the Telegraph, the Berry family, who are thought to be bidding alongside the Daily Mail & General Trust and Cinven. Three private equity firms -- 3i, Candover and Apax -- are also in the running.
Reports suggest that most of the bids have come in at around £550m to £600m.
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