VIENNA, August 13, 2008 (AFP) - Austrian newspaper publisher Oscar Bronner said Wednesday he plans to buy the 49-percent stake held in the liberal Austrian daily Der Standard from Germany's Sueddeutsche Verlag, publisher of Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Bronner said in a statement he had decided to exercise an option to buy Sueddeutsche's stake following the recent change in ownership at the German company.

In February, Stuttgart-based Suedwestdeutsche Medien Holding (SWMH) increased its stake in the centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung to a majority 81.25 percent.

The Austrian publisher already owns 10 percent directly in Standard Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and a further 41 percent via his family-owned foundation Bronner Familien-Privatstiftung.

His company Bronner Online AG will hold Sueddeutsche's 49-percent stake.

Bronner has notified the Austrian competition watchdog, the Bundeswettbewerbsbehoerde, of his plans, according to an official filing published on the authority's website.