Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror shares surge on confirmation of Local World talks

Shares in the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror shot yesterday after it confirmed it was in discussions to acquire the remaining 80 per cent of local newspaper group Local World it did not already own.

Trinity Mirror, owned 20 per cent of Local World, which had around 100 titles and 70 websites. It would need to acquire the 38.7 per cent owned by Daily Mail publisher Daily Mail and General Trust, which also confirmed the potential sale.

A deal would benefit Rupert Murdoch's former son-in-law Crispin Odey, whose hedge fund Odey Asset Management was a Local World shareholder, as was former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft.

Earlier this year, Trinity was said to be looking to take  rival publisher Richard Desmond's newspapers, which included the Daily Express. Richard Clive Desmond is owner of Express Newspapers and founder of Northern & Shell, publisher of various society magazines.

The move by Trinity Mirror is aimed at building scale to help counteract the impact of falling advertising revenue, according to commentators.

Trinity Mirror had not put any price on the possible deal, which The Sunday Times said was valued at close to £200 million.

If the deal were to go through, Trinity Mirror would be able to expand the offerings on its automated advertising system, by giving it access to Local World's regional newspapers.

The system matched advertising seen on websites to customers browsing those sites.