A new scenario postulated for German media that mixed-media group ProSiebenSat1 could provide publishing giant Axel Springer with a major competitor instead of a partner.

Recent talk of a merger between the two has been discounted on anti-trust grounds, and because Friede Springer - majority owner of Axel Springer and widow of the company's founder - would not relinquish control in a merger with the larger company.

Now German business newspaper Handelsblatt has reported that ProSiebenSat1 could be buying a stake in the Scout24 Group from Hellman & Friedman... or even a majority interest. The report, attributed to "unnamed sources in local banking circles", has also been repeated by Dow Jones.

Christo Volschenk of the US-based Classified Intelligence Report says such a deal would provide Axel Springer with a direct competitor in the European classifieds industry.

"In 2013 Deutsche Telekom sold 70 per cent of Scout24 for a bit more than 1.5 billion Euros to Hellman & Friedman and the latter immediately sold an unknown percentage on to US investment firm Blackstone," he says. "These deals valued Scout24 Group at around 2.2 billion Euros at the time. Recently, ProSiebenSat1 acquired price comparison site Verivox, operator of huge search engines for German autos and real estate."