Music company EMI confirmed today it has received a bid approach that one newspaper said could be worth £2.5 billion or more.
The Financial Timessaid Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs were believed to be among the potential bidders for EMI, which is home to artists including Robbie Williams and Coldplay.
EMI declined to named its suitors.
Earlier this year, EMI was locked in a $4.6 billion (£2.4 billion) takeover battle with Warner Music, with each company trying to buy the other.
But hopes of a deal were quashed in June when a European court annulled approval of the 2004 merger of Sony Music and Bertelsmann's BMG.
The ruling cast doubt on whether an EMI-Warner deal would get regulatory clearance, and the companies abandoned talks until there was more clarity from competition regulators.