Desmond is understood to have been offered finance of around £1bn by Commerzbank, the German bank behind his £125m purchase of the Express titles last November.
Since he bought the titles, Desmond has been keen to dissociate himself from his image as a pornographer and is trying to sell his stable of porn titles. He is said to be looking at three potential deals to consolidate his position as a serious media player.
Desmond aims to double the circulation of the Daily Express and attempt to unseat arch mid-market rival the Daily Mail from its leading position. The Daily Express sold 940,961 copies daily in June, compared with the Daily Mail's 2.5m.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Desmond said, "The circulation war has not even started. They throw everything at us but we're like a boxer, we're still standing. The reality is that circulation revenues are exactly the same as they were a year ago, which is good considering everything that has been going on."