THE owners of David Lloyd – which has fitness clubs in Southampton and Ringwood – are understood to be considering a sale of the business.

The gym chain, which runs 79 centres in Britain and a further ten across Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, is owned jointly by the billionaire Livingstone brothers and Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity vehicle Caird Capital.

Taxpayer-backed bank Lloyds is intent on restructuring the finances of the business, which has ballooned into the bank’s second largest corporate debt, which could lead to a potential sale, it has been reported.

Chief executive Scott Lloyd could launch a bid for the rival raquet business owned by Virgin Active, as part of any deal to sell David Lloyd, it was also reported.

David Lloyd was bought for £940m in May 2007 at the height of the private equity bubble. Mr Lloyd headed a London & Regional-led swoop on the business, which had been founded by his father, the Davis Cup captain, 26 years earlier.

London & Regional’s Next Generation chain of gyms was rolled into David Lloyd as part of the acquisition and the business was divided into an operating company and a property division.

In July last year, 70 per cent of Lloyds’ equity stake in David Lloyd was transferred to private equity firm Coller Capital, with the bank retaining 30 per cent, in Caird.