Independent News & Media has enlisted the support of UUP chairman Lord Rogan and Ulster Bank chairman Sir George Quigley in its bid for the Belfast Telegraph.

Formal bids for the North's biggest-selling newspaper must be lodged with the Telegraph's owners, Trinity Mirror, next week. Analysts believe the newspaper could fetch more than £250 million sterling (€407 million). An Independent spokesman refused to comment, but it is understood the firm has invited Lord Rogan and Sir George to become directors of the Telegraph if its bid is successful. It is thought a prominent Catholic has also been invited to sit on the Telegraph board.

Under normal circumstances, a bid for a unionist-leaning newspaper such as the Telegraph by a Dublin-based group such as Independent might attract the attentions of the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). It is understood the DTI is determined to ensure that whoever buys the Telegraph will maintain its moderate unionist ethos.

By enlisting the support of Lord Rogan - made a life peer last year - and Sir George, Independent is sending a signal that this ethos will be maintained.

Likewise, the inclusion of a prominent Catholic aims to reassure middle-class Catholics, who make up more than a quarter of the Telegraph's 130,000-strong daily circulation. It is understood Independent was advised on how it should approach such a politically sensitive bid by Lord Laird, one of the North's most prominent public relations consultants and a man who served as a UUP MP for six years in the early 1970s. Independent is likely to face strong competition for the Telegraph with rival bids expected from the Daily Mail, American media group Gannett and two bids backed by British venture capital groups. A management buyout bid has failed to materialise, it is understood.

Trinity Mirror, created from the merger last year of Trinity International and Mirror Group, was given a year last September to sell the Belfast Telegraph and three other titles - Sunday Life, Community Telegraph and Farm Trader. The merger meant Trinity Mirror owned both unionist newspapers, the News Letter and the Telegraph and the DTI decided it was the Telegraph that should be sold. Trinity is permitted to retain a 19.9 per cent stake but the offer document suggests it will dispose of its entire holding.

Although its circulation has fallen to 130,000 from 140,000 in recent years, the Telegraph remains profitable, generating profits of £20 million sterling on sales of £60 million in 1998.