BERLIN (Reuters) - Axel Springer has dropped out of the race for Deutsche Telekom's Scout24, leaving only private equity firms lined up for the online classified advertising business. A spokeswoman for Axel Springer told Reuters on Thursday that the German publisher was no longer interested in Scout24, without providing further details. Springer Chief Executive Mathias Doepfner has repeatedly said that Scout24, a bundle of Internet portals including European car trading site AutoScout24 and real estate classifieds site ImmobilienScout24, would be a good fit for the group but that he is not willing to overpay. Scout24 is expected to fetch a price of about 1.5 billion euros (1.28 billion pounds), but an industry source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that Springer feels that the business's growth prospects do not justify the asking price. The publisher had teamed up with private equity firm General Atlantic to make an offer for Scout24 as part of its push into digital media, sources told Reuters last month. Springer never confirmed that it made an offer for Scout24, but its July deal to sell a clutch of Germany's best-known newspaper and magazines for 920 million euros intensified speculation that it was seeking possible acquisitions. Shares in Springer were up 1 percent at 39 euros by 0931 GMT on Thursday. Deutsche Telekom shares were down 0.5 percent at 9.75 euros. (Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Goodman)