Media group Bertelsmann has teamed up with private equity partners to consider a bid for college textbook publisher Thomson Learning, which Thomson Corporation of Canada is touting for an estimated $5bn (£2.5bn).

Insiders told the Financial Times that the media group had teamed up with three private equity groups to bid for Thomson Learning. The company is one of the first targets Bertelsmann has identified for a investment joint venture designed to secure Europe's largest media group a foothold in new sectors and boost its presence in the US and Asia.