Grant Bovey has postponed a float of his buy-to-let property company, Imagine Homes, in favour of a £37.5m equity-and-debt financing arrangement from HBOS. The Daily Telegraph

Bovey, who is married to television presenter Anthea Turner, had proposed to float Imagine this autumn with a £200m but has now shelved plans to list until 2009 at the earliest.

Bovey said: ‘The ambition to bring Imagine to the main market is still very much in place but clearly the market isn’t in great shape right now.’

The decision, he said, followed the recent turmoil in equity markets, the investment from HBOS and a change in accounting practices which means Imagine saw losses before tax more than double to £6.42m in the year to March from £2.81m a year earlier.

The HBOS equity and debt should allow the business to complete a further £200m of property deals once gearing has been taken into account.