Hearst, the New York-headquartered publishing giant, wants to relaunch women’s sex and entertainment magazine Cosmopolitan in Australia, almost five years after it was shut down for being commercially unviable.

The Australian Financial Review has confirmed Hearst has spoken to at least two local publishing companies about taking over the brand of Cosmopolitan. It would be licensed to a local publisher, which would produce the magazine and content under the Cosmo brand name.