Media groups Promotora de Informaciones SA (Prisa) of Spain and Lagardere of France are looking to “substantially” raise their minority stakes in French daily newspaper Le Monde, Thomson Financial and Reuters reported Wednesday.

Thomson based its reports on comments by a Prisa spokesperson, while Reuters cited a report by Challenges.fr.

Prisa, which owns flagship daily El Paí­s, is in talks with Le Monde on increasing its stake, a spokesperson told Thomson Financial, saying that the two are “in a stage of exchanging ideas.”

Should both groups boost their presence in the French daily, Lagardere would take on an operating role while Prisa would guarantee editorial independence, Reuters reported, citing the Web site of business weekly Challenges.

Currently, Lagardere owns 17 percent of Le Monde and Prisa owns 15 percent. In December, two of Le Monde's three new board members quit their jobs because of a dispute with newspaper editorial society SRM, which is the largest shareholder of the paper.

View the article from Challenges.fr. (In French)