The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Riley is understood to be working with Vitruvian Partners, which is run by former executives of buyout group Apax, although he declined to name his backers.
Riley, who told the paper, "I am backing a bid for the Emap radio assets", plans to take on the role of chairman at Emap Radio if he pulls off the deal.
He is likely to face competition from Global Radio, the company that bought his former employer this summer. Riley was initially expected to transfer to Global with the Chrysalis business, but decided to move on prior to completion of the deal.
Riley said he believed it would be better for Emap Radio to be taken privately than remain listed, in order to speed the next wave of consolidation the radio industry is expected to go through.
This week is the deadline for indicative offers for Emap Radio, Emap's consumer magazine and business-to-business media divisions.
Another possible bidder for the radio division is DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, where former Emap Radio boss Tim Schoonmaker is an executive. The company is believed to be looking at more than one of the three divisions.
Emap consumer magazine division is believed to have attracted the least interest, according to the Financial Times. April to September ad revenues have dropped 11% year on year at the division, Emap revealed last week.
The B2B division has attracted interest from Apax, United Business Media and Wilmington.
It has also been reported by The Observer that Emap is studying the option of selling off its £136m pension scheme to oil the auction process. With its auction likely to result in the sell-off of divisions individually, it is unlikely that any one buyer will take on the pension liability for the whole group.
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