Sir Anthony, who has a 41% interest in the local Australian newspaper group Australian Provincial Newspapers, plans to use the interest as a springboard to take control of Fairfax, which owns some of Australia's best-known papers including the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review and The Age.
If the deal, which could be worth as much as £800m, comes off it will bring to fruition a long-held ambition for Sir Anthony, who has had Fairfax in his sights for more than a decade.
He had previously been frustrated by Australia's strict media ownership laws -- which forbid foreign owners from owning more than 25% of Australian media firms -- and rivals including Canadian media magnate Conrad Black.
However, by using APN, which Sir Anthony was able to acquire as his children are Australian citizens through marriage, he is able to launch his bid. Fairfax has come in to play following media tycoon Kerry Packer's decision to sell his Fairfax interests.
Packer was blocked from making his own bid because of his other Australian media interests, which include Channel Nine television.
As well as his Australian interests, Sir Anthony through his Independent News & Media group also owns papers in nearby New Zealand, where it owns Wilson & Horton, NZ's largest newspaper publisher and commercial printer, and a one-third shareholder in the country's biggest private radio broadcaster, The Radio Network (TRN).