Daily Mail owner considering bid for Johnston Press' "i" newspaper-Sky

LONDON (Reuters) - The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper has drawn up a plan to make an offer for the "i" title from Johnston Press after the struggling regional publisher put itself up for sale, Sky News reported on Saturday.

Johnston Press, the publisher of The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and "i", put itself up for sale in October as it labours under the weight of debt, pension obligations and deteriorating advertising conditions.

Sky News said Daily Mail and General Trust is drawing up plans to make an offer for the "i", a sister title of the Independent which was sold to Johnston Press for 24 million pounds in 2016, when the Independent newspaper became a digital-only publication.

Johnston Press has a 220 million pound bond which is due for repayment next year. Sky said a sale of the "i" could generate between 50 million and 100 million pounds ($65 million-$130 million).

A spokesman for Johnston Press declined to comment on the report about the "i" but said the formal sale process launched on Oct. 11 was ongoing. A representative for DMGT could not immediately be reached for comment.

($1 = 0.7707 pounds)

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Hugh Lawson)