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Independent News & Media's loss-making titles could be offloaded for as little as £1, according to sources quoted by the Observer yesterday, with The Daily Mail and General Trust taking on the struggling Independent and its sister title The Independent on Sunday.

The story said that sources close to Independent News & Media, which said that the papers are not for sale, had admitted that rival newspaper groups had offered to take on some of the papers' back office functions, such as IT, HR and accounts.

The Observer report cited senior newspaper industry sources, who said that a deal could go further than that, particularly because of the pressures mounting against Independent News & Media.

The Sunday Times also reported that Independent News & Media is in talks with a rival newspaper group -- Trinity Mirror -- to combine backroom functions to save money. It cited Independent News & Media sources, who confirmed that a deal was possible and that other groups were also in discussions.

Sir Tony O'Reilly, Independent News & Media, chief executive is under pressure from dissident shareholder Denis O'Brien, who owns a 26% stake in the company, to offload the loss making  Independent and its sister Sunday paper.

While O'Reilly has so far resisted calls to do so, the group's UK operations are loss making and it must renegotiate several loans at a time when banks are more wary of lending money and media is anticipating a continuing advertising downturn.

O'Reilly would be reluctant to raise money by selling more shares because such a move would give O'Brien an opportunity to increase his stake in the group and potentially launch a takeover. Selling the titles, The Observer claims, even for a nominal amount, would be far cheaper than closing them down.

The Independent is the least well resourced of the quality newspaper titles and it struggles in comparison to larger rivals, including The Guardian.

The paper was relaunched recently under new editor Roger Alton adding full colour for the first time.

The Independent, which also increased its cover price from 80p to £1 on September 15, saw its circulation fall in September to 220,957, down 4% across the month and 12.1% year on year.