Secret Millionaire Chek Whyte fights bankruptcy amid £30m debt crisis

TV SECRET Millionaire Chek Whyte has run out of cash and is today fighting to stave off personal bankruptcy for the second time.

The property owner and developer, who appeared in the Channel 4 TV series Secret Millionaire, owes more than £30m and has creditors hammering on his door.

The Ilkeston born entrepreneur who is a disqualified director, has brought in insolvency experts to help him save his empire. He says he is still hoped to save his businesses including Chek Whyte Industries, his property management business.

Mr Whyte today spoke of his contrition mixed with a dream he still holds for his adoptive city of Nottingham.

Insolvency practitioners have been working round the clock. One option includes re-financing the businesses.

But insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor are exploring whether all his creditors will agree to what is called an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), an agreement which will allow them to be paid over a period of time.

If creditors agree, his businesses will be run by him but supervised by Begbies Traynor. Any profits will be paid to creditors, particularly when the property market returns. The alternative is personal bankruptcy.

Mr Whyte owes £25m to Yorkshire Bank, the largest creditor, Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and Royal Bank of Scotland, all which is secured. He owes a further £1.2m to £2.5m to HM Revenue & Customs. Unsecured trade creditors are owed about £4.98m.

If creditors agree to an IVA, a creditors meeting will take place on August 17 of unsecured creditors.

A firm of chartered surveyors has been brought in to value all Whyte's properties. The value may or may not cover what is owed.

Informed sources said he owns a wide and diverse portfolio of at least 21 different properties including industrial units in Lenton and houses at Clifton Hall, The Meadows and Cotgrave.

Mr Whyte lives at Bunny Hall in Bunny and runs businesses from Stanford Hall on the Notts/Leics border.

Richard Saville, insolvency practitioner of Begbies Traynor in Nottingham who Mr Whyte consulted in mid June, said he could not comment on who owned Bunny Hall and Stamford Hall.

Some properties produce a good income such as the rentals from Tesco's on Long Row West and the premises to the rear on Upper Parliament Street.

His portfolio includes penthouse apartments in the former Co-op department store conversion, now The Axis, on Upper Parliament Street,

Mr Whyte, a former bankrupt, developed his businesses as a sole trader through a series of unincorporated businesses. This means he cannot seek the protection afforded to a limited company by administration, receivership or liquidation.

Mr Saville said Mr Whyte was in this position because the property market had collapsed, a sector which has led the recession alongside retail.

Mr Saville said: "I can confirm I have been contacted by Chek Whyte to carry out a review of his business interests. It is a quite complex assignment given the size of the debts involved and the extent of the property portfolio.

"We have instructed property consultants Fisher Hargreaves Proctor to carry out a valuation of each property which makes up the portfolio. We are looking very carefully at the options available to Mr Whyte.

"They include a possible refinancing of some or all the property portfolio although in the current difficult economic climate that may be a little tricky.

"The other options are somewhat restricted – an individual voluntary arrangement or in the worst case, bankruptcy although I don't see that happening. "We hope to be in a position to report to all creditors in the next week or so."