Dragon Duncan Bannatyne breathes fire at report of £122m debt pile

Dragons’ Den star and health club tycoon Duncan Bannatyne took to Twitter today to say that reports about him needing to raise £122m to repay a bank loan are “totally untrue”..

Reacting to a news story in the the Daily Mail, Bannatyne said that he’d never spoken to the paper.

According to the report, Bannatyne has seen his fortune fall from £430m to £85m last year.

The Daily Mail story online today that says I need to raise money to repay a bank loan is totally untrue. @dailymail talks rubbish again

— Duncan Bannatyne (@DuncanBannatyne) May 14, 2013

The Daily Mail also reports that Bannatyne, who no longer features on the Sunday Times Rich List, is allegedly seeking finance to pay off debts of up to £122m which he racked up after taking a loan from the Anglo Irish Bank. Bannatyne used the money to buy 24 fitness clubs from the Hilton Group in 2006.

Lat year, Bannatyne’s split with his second wife Joanne McCue who he accused of “gold-digging” and “taking food from the mouths of orphans” on Twitter.

He also put up for sale a detached five-bedroom home in Billingham, County Durham, for £875,000.

The Daily Mail quotes Bannatyne as saying, “Everything else is on hold until I sort this out.

“It’s a very tense period for me at the moment and is taking up all my time. I have spent half-a-million pounds trying sort my affairs out — that’s a lot of people to pay.” Bannatyne denied speaking to the Daily Mail.