Nine enters last stage of region bid: What's Domain's future?

With the selling of Nine Entertainment Co.'s 160 regional and community newspapers, rumors of online real estate group Domain's future are beginning to surface.

Bidders are currently in the due diligence phase of the auction process for Nine's regional news business known as Australian Community Media, with April 24 marking the cut-off date for a second round of offers. A deal is expected to be done by the end of the month.

Sources close to the sales process say that during negotiations some bidders have raised what the deal will mean for Domain. Nine owns 59 percent of Domain and is the owner of this masthead.

Since Macquarie Capital opened up the data room for the regionals sale earlier this year, Nine chief executive Hugh Marks has been in contact with former Domain chief executive Antony Catalano.

Catalano and Thorney Investment Group's billionaire chairman, Alex Waislitz, who attempted to block the Fairfax-Nine merger last year, had lunch at Sydney CBD restaurant The Bentley with Marks in February, sources said.

Catalano was among those who made an indicative bid in early March, alongside Australian private equity firms Anchorage Capital Partners and Allegro Funds.

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