GMG is said to be considering joining the list of bidders, which is already thought to include Johnston Press, the Daily Mail & General Trust, Independent News & Media and Trinity Mirror.
SMG's newspapers are expected to fetch in the region of £120m-£200m, which would go some way to help lowering the company's debt, which stands at £408m.
However, a bid from the Guardian and some of the other publishers may be thwarted on competition grounds. SMG wants to choose a preferred bidder by the end of November and may prefer to deal with a non-publishing group, because a bid from a large newspaper publisher would likely spark a competition inquiry, which could push a deal back to summer 2003.
SMG would likely want the deal done and dusted long before this date, because it is set to renegotiate its £400m lending facility in June with creditors.
The sale of the newspapers came as some surprise to media watchers. It had been thought that SMG was getting ready to sell its two Scottish ITV franchises, following reports that it had held talks with both Carlton Communications and Granada.
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