Real estates sources said Fairfax is eyeing MMP, of which it owns 50 per cent, with one saying a deal will be announced shortly.

But the real estate agents who are invested in MMP said this was not the case or declined to comment. Fairfax Media, which publishes The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review, also declined to comment.

MMP was founded by one-time Fairfax advertising director Antony Catalano in April 2010, targeting the lucrative real estate ad market in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

Fairfax responded to the threat by buying a half stake in MMP for $35 million in late 2011, plus folding 32 mastheads from its community paper arm into MMP. MMP investors include real estate agents Kay & Burton, Jellis Craig, Marshall White and Bennison Mackinnon, and there are hundreds of agent-investors in its individual publications.

MMP has retained operational control and now publishes 15 publications, plus websites, providing advertising for the agent-investors as well as attracting revenue from other advertisers.

A full takeover has long been speculated, and the MMP board held a board meeting on Monday in Melbourne.

The six-member board comprises three Fairfax employees: Catalano (who now heads Fairfax's real estate classified arm Domain), Fairfax chief financial officer David Housego and Fairfax general counsel and company secretary Gail Hambly.

The other three are Kay & Burton chairman Gerald Delany, Norman Draper of accounting firm Lawler Draper Dillon, and investment banker Charbel Nader, who serves as chair.

A deal is likely to hinge on price and maintaining agent-investors as advertisers.

Domain recently launched a digital real estate marketing business in South Australia, which is a joint venture between Fairfax and South Australian agents.