More than £200m has been added to the stock market value of Mirror Group as its shares surged on the back of takeover speculation.

Shares climbed 27p in early trading to a new 12-month high of 245p, taking the company's market value to £1.1bn.

German media group Axel Springer Verlag is reportedly interested in buying the Mirror Group

The increase follows Friday's announcement that German media group Axel Springer Verlag might buy the Mirror Group.

Springer is Germany's biggest newspaper publisher, with titles including Bild Zeitung and Die Welt.

In a statement, Springer said it was considering a number of opportunities which "might or might not" lead to an offer for the company.

Confirmation of its interest has fuelled market rumours that other companies might be interested in a merger with Mirror Group.

Mirror calls off Trinity talks

According to newspaper reports Trinity International Holdings, the UK's largest regional newspaper group, has already held tentative merger talks.

Senior Advisor for Barclays Stockbrokers Stan Adams: 'They're looking for some sort of direction.'

Mirror chief executive David Montgomery is said to have held preliminary discussions with Philip Graf, chief executive of Trinity.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, the Mirror group announced that it had called off merger discussions with Trinity until Springer's intentions had been "clarified".

The company said all talks with Trinity had been at a "very exploratory stage".

As well as The Mirror newspaper, Mirror Group also publishes the Sunday Mirror, the Sunday People and the Daily Record, and operates cable TV channel L!ve TV.

Last year it moved into regional newspaper publishing with the £297m takeover of Midland Independent Newspapers (MIN), publisher of the Birmingham Post and Evening Mail, Coventry Evening Telegraph and the weekly Sunday Mercury.

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