Apax Partners has been forced to put on hold its plans to bid for Emap, the media group, after the private equity firm could not secure financial backing for an offer.

Sources said yesterday that Apax was still keen to pursue the magazine and radio station owner, but an offer would be delayed by several weeks until the British buyout firm could find banks willing to finance a bid, which could be worth as much as £2 billion.

The news is the latest evidence of the turmoil to hit the private equity industry after the collapse of the sub-prime loans market in the United States. Several deals have been delayed or cancelled in recent weeks as investors have refused to back high-risk leveraged loans, which have a similar structure to sub-prime. With a huge backlog of deals still to syndicate, the banks are refusing to lend money for new deals, particularly large ones.

A source close to Apax said: “To get the deal done, someone has to underwrite it, but there aren’t any banks who would be willing to take that risk. Trying to do a deal this size in August with most of the banks closed for business is impossible.”

Apax has also held discussions with Guardian Media Group (GMG), publisher of The Guardian, over a potential joint bid, although one source said yesterday that those talks were still “very preliminary”. GMG said last week that certain parts of Emap were attractive, although, like Apax, it is not believed to be interested in Emap’s consumer magazines, which include FHM and Grazia. Consumer magazines advertising revenue fell 13 per cent between April and June.

Emap, which also owns a range of business-to-business titles and radio stations including Kiss FM, effectively put itself up for sale last month, hiring Lazard, the bank, to review its strategic options. A string of private equity firms, including Providence, Cinven, Charterhouse and CVC have been mooted as potential buyers, although, given the squeeze on credit, they will be facing the same problems as Apax.

Sources said that another option, to help to stimulate a sale, would be for Emap to help to finance any bid by providing the bidders with a so-called vendor loan. The move would be similar to the deal that Daimler struck last week with Cerberus, enabling the US private equity group to buy Chrysler. When Duke Street sold Esporta to Simon Halabi this year, it gave the entrepreneur a £30 million vendor loan note to get the deal done, although it has since gone sour. It is believed that Emap is not keen on such an agreement.

Apax Partners declined to comment.

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