Johnston in £24m talks to buy the i

Johnston, which owns more than 200 titles including The Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, said the deal would create the UK’s fourth largest print publisher with more than 600,000 paid copies a day.

The i newspaper is part of the group that publishes The Independent and Independent on Sunday, owned by Evgeny Lebedev, who has other media assets including the Evening Standard.

The i was launched in October 2010 with a cover price of 20p, although it has since doubled to 40p.

News of the “late stage” discussions comes after it was revealed the title had been put up for sale at the end of last year.

Shares in Johnston rose 4 per cent on news of the talks.

The group said there are opportunities to launch new online products associated with the i, target new markets and for advertising cross-selling.

Johnston added the i has growing circulation revenues – a feat in a declining wider print publishing market.

A deal to buy the i would be seen as a coup for Ashley Highfield, chief executive of Johnston, who recently cheered investors after cutting the group’s pension deficit.