Simon Halabi has been warned by his bankers that he must inject tens of millions of pounds into his health and fitness chain Esporta or it will go bankrupt. Sunday Telegraph. Sunday Times

Halabi, whose personal wealth is estimated at £5bn, spent last week in crunch talks with his bankers at Société Générale.

Halabi bought the upmarket chain last November for about £480m but SocGen is understood to have had difficulty in syndicating an estimated £330m of debt.

Esporta, one of Britain’s largest fitness chains, is already in breach of its banking covenants and cannot afford to wait for a cash injection. Halabi is thought to have tried, but failed, to refinance Esporta..

Sources confirmed last night that SocGen has asked Halabi to put at least another £50m of his own money into the business. Halabi has to repay a further £30m to Duke Street Capital, which sold the chain, by 23 August.