The Times reports that CVC has allied with Candover, after CVC's original partner Trinity Mirror withdrew from the running last week.
In addition, Cinven, another private equity group, has dropped out over concerns about pension liabilities and weak current trading at Northcliffe, which owns titles such as the Nottingham Evening Post.
This takes the number of likely bids down to four, consisting of: CVC/Candover; venture capital firm Providence; Johnston Press; and US group Gannett, which owns UK regional newspaper business Newsquest.
However, The Times claims that Johnston is still debating whether to bid and that Gannett's US headquarters may not be ready to support its UK team. Johnston Press has only recently digested the Edinburgh Evening News, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, which it bought from the Barclay brothers.
The Daily Mail & General Trust is hoping to generate around £1.5bn from a sale of its regional newspaper business, which made operating profits of £102m with a margin of 20% last year.
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