The Bannatyne Group has today announced a £92m deal with M&G Investments for the sale and leaseback of the ground leases for 39 Bannatyne’s Health Clubs.

The company has been grappling with debts resulting from a £180m loan from the failed Anglo Irish Bank, which was nationalised by the Irish government in 2009, and the deal will help Bannatyne’s clear these loans, according to a statement.

Chairman of the The Bannatyne Group Duncan Bannatyne had previously tried to buy out the debt with an offer of £111.5m earlier this month.

Having announced today’s leaseback deal, Bannatyne said: “M&G can see the long-term value of our business and has agreed to be our landlord over a very long lease term.

“Our premium business is successful, sustainable and profitable and we believe it is an ideal tenant to provide M&G’s investors with reliable returns.”

The move has been described as a “quasi-ground lease arrangement” where the initial rent is set at a lower percentage of market rental value, designed to minimise the risk of the rent becoming unaffordable for the tenant.

A spokesperson for The Bannatyne Group told Health Club Management that the running of the 39 clubs in question – which are scattered across the UK – would not be impaired, as the lease is only for the land, so the buildings themselves will not be affected. “It will be very much a case of business as usual,” they added.

All of the sites will be leased to Bannatyne Fitness Ltd – which is part of The Bannatyne Group and operates over 60 health clubs – for 125 years on a full repairing and insuring basis with contracted annual reviews linked to inflation. The portfolio comprises 26 freehold and 13 long leasehold properties.

M&G Investments is advised by M&G Real Estate, which sourced this asset and also consulted commercial property and real estate services adviser CBRE on the deal.