Speculation has reached fever pitch over the interests queuing up to bid for the unrivalled portfolio of sports rights owned by KirchMedia, part of Germany's insolvent Kirch group.

Invision, a Swiss investment firm, has now confirmed that it is interested in the rights, which cover the football World Cup, and the Bundesliga, Germany's prestigious league.

But Invision denied weekend reports that it was a front for Leo Kirch, the magnate who founded the media firm, but who lost control during its complicated insolvency filing in April.

According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Invision faces competition from former KirchSport employee Guenter Netzer, who is leading a management buyout with former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

The magazine said that both groups had offered 200m-300m euros (�125m-188m; $195m-292m) for the rights, a tiny fraction of the billions of euros the Kirch group spent acquiring rights during the 1990s.

Questions, questions

Even this modest price tag is unlikely to be achieved.

Invision chairman Peter Titz told the Reuters news agency that the figures mentioned in Der Spiegel were "totally exaggerated".

How much is the Bundesliga worth?

"For that money we would not invest," he said.

It is still unclear exactly what is on the table, since discussions over the sale of various Kirch businesses have dragged on for some six months.

In mid-September, the firm's creditors winnowed down a list of banking and media consortia interested in Kirch's media interests, but left open the question of whether the sports rights were to be included in any such deal.

Also unclear is exactly which rights KirchMedia still possesses, since creditors have discussed individual sales deals - covering, for example, rights to Formula 1 motor racing - with a number of parties.