Dragons' Den Scot Duncan Bannatyne turned down an offer of £250 million - to buy his own business.
The TV entrepreneur said ' I'm out' when he was offered the vast sum for The Bannatyne Group, which includes his health and fitness clubs and hotels.
The 72-year-old Scot, who appeared on the show between 2005-2015, claims an unnamed US operator offered 'between £200million and £250million' because they wanted to expand into Europe.
He told the Mail on Sunday: "It's quite surprising that someone's made an offer given the current circumstances.
Duncan owns 96 per cent of the business with his family owning the rest.
His worth an estimated £300million, including the value of the group and says he's not that motivated to sell.
He said: "I like the company, I like the way it runs, I like my employees. I enjoy it. So I'm not all that motivated to sell. They approached me and they made the offer.
"The ball's in their court now. I need to feel that it's going to a good home and that
I'm getting good value for it and my family's getting good value for it and that I won't regret it."
Duncan's revelation came as he revealed he'd lost £50million as a result of the last three lockdowns and that more than 70,000 of his 210,000 members had left.
He also claims that since Covid broke, he has sold four houses and pumped £10million into the business.
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