UPDATED 14:30 - Emap's share price rose more than 5% after a report that Guardian Media Group was in talks with private equity firm Apax Partners about launching a £2bn joint bid for beleaguered magazine publisher.
The shares reached 884p at their highest point today, up 5.36% on last night's close of 839p. They have since dropped down to 878p.
An article on the Daily Telegraph's website, , said that talks between the two companies are at an early stage and that no formal agreement has been made. GMG and Apax already have a relationship after the former sold Apax a 49.9% stake in Trader Media Group, which owns Auto Trader.
News of a potential joint bid comes just a week after the two were reported to be considering bidding separately for parts of Emap. Announcing GMG's annual results, Carolyn McCall, GMG chief executive, said the group was considering acquiring parts of Emap following the Heat publisher's announcement that it was considering a sale or demerger of all or some of its businesses.
McCall said GMG was "unlikely to invest in an area where we already are" and added that Emap's business-to-business division was one of several interesting areas.
This might rule out a bid for Emap's radio division because GMG already owns 13 stations in the UK. GMG, which owns Smooth FM, has sizeable cash reserves following the sale to Apax of a stake in its Trader Media division for £674m.
GMG's expression of interest was followed by the news that Apax had tabled an informal bid to buy Emap's business-to-business arm, which includes titles Construction News and Retail Week, for £1.3bn.
A spokesman for GMG said that the media group, which also owns The Guardian and Observer newspapers, had no comment to make on the press speculation.
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