US private equity giant TPG Capital is reported to have acquired 35 million shares in Fairfax Media in recent days, as it considers a bid for one of the oldest and largest media companies in Australia and New Zealand.
More than 18.5 million Fairfax shares changed hands on Monday, and another 17.13 million on Tuesday.
TPG and Fairfax both declined to comment on whether the private equity fund had bought up to 4.9 per cent of the company, according to a report in Fairfax's The Australian Financial Review.
As revealed by The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column, TPG is lining up financing and co-investors to table a bid as early as this week for Fairfax, publisher of the Financial Review.
Domain – the country's number two online property portal, which is run by Antony Catalano – is the key to any TPG deal, and accounts for most if not all of Fairfax's $2.5 billion market capitalisation.
Shares in Fairfax Media have risen since the company recently said it planned to spin off Domain into a separate listing.
No foreign buyer can own more than 5 per cent of an Australian media company without approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.