Lagardere close to choosing magazines buyer

PARIS (Reuters) - French media group Lagardere said it was looking over bids for the magazines it has put up for sale this weekend and would announce its decision shortly. The company was responding to a report in French daily Le Figaro that said a joint offer from Belgium's Rossel and France's Reworld Media had won the bidding, citing unidentified sources. Lagardere said in October it planned to sell 10 magazine titles to focus on growing its most strategic brands online, such as the French edition of "Elle". "Nothing has been decided at this stage. We are looking at the offers this weekend and will take our decision and communicate it at the latest in early April," a spokesman for Lagardere Active, a division of Lagardere, told Reuters. Le Figaro also said in its report that Didier Quillot, former head of Lagardere Active, the unit which launched Be, had also made a bid, backed by web entrepreneurs Alexis Caude and Marc Menase and banker Charles-Henri Rossignol. Titles for sale include popular Psychologies Magazine, Be and Premiere, and several home and decoration magazines. Reworld Media is headed by Pascal Chevalier and owns magazine Marie France. Rossel owns Belgium's Le Soir newspaper. Neither were immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)