MUMBAI: Anil Ambani's Reliance ADAG seems to have stepped out of the ring for buying out the debt-laden Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

There are reportedly just three likely bidders - Access Industries, Lionsgate and Time Warner. MGM, however, declined to comment on the development.

The deadline for submitting bidding offers was on Friday. But it now seems that the deadline has been pushed back - at least till Monday.

In January, Reliance Entertainment had signed MGM's confidentiality agreements to make bid offers.

MGM has run into financial stress, skipping an interest payment last year on its $3.7bn in debt when it failed to raise the capital required to support an ambitious production schedule. Its lenders have granted it forbearance from interest payments for some time.

MGM boasts of a library of 4,000 titles, including classics such as the Pink Panther and James Bond movies.

First-round offers are expected to come in between $1.5 to $2 billion, well below the $3.7 billion debt that the studio owes. If the bids come too low, MGM's creditors could decide to keep the company and restructure it, possibly filing for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.