Reports in the UK business press suggest that the UK private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners Ltd., is in talks to acquire the troubled cider group, HP Bulmer Holdings.

According to the report in the Daily Telegraph an inside source has said that CVC has contacted Bulmer’s CEO, Miles Templeman, about making a bid for the beleaguered cider producer.

Bulmer, weakened by a catalogue of financial problems, is known to be a possible acquisition target and in January, Bulmer itself suggested that selling the company could be one way to resolve its current difficulties.

On Friday, Bulmer said it had not decided whether to sell its distribution company, The Beer Seller, or put the whole company on the market, so it regarded bid talk “premature”.