Fleet Street takeover

THe Daily Mirror’s publisher is in talks to buy the Daily express.

Trinity Mirror had previously been in discussions to buy a minority stake in the newspaper’s owner, northern & Shell.

But yesterday Trinity said these talks had ended, and it was negotiating to buy 100pc of the publisher, which also includes the Daily Star.

northern & Shell is owned by Richard Desmond, who bought the papers in 2000 for £125m.

It is unclear how much a deal would be worth today, though sources suggest it could be around £100m.

It is the second time in less than two years that Trinity has opened talks with northern & Shell, which also publishes the reality TV magazine, oK!

an earlier mooted deal is thought to have been the mastermind of former news of The World editor David Montgomery.

Montgomery had been plotting to create a venture with private equity players that would house the northern & Shell titles, with Trinity Mirror – also the owner of Scotland’s Daily Record – as a minority stakeholder.

But industry sources said Trinity now believes it has the means to go it alone and make a commercial success of a deal.