LENDERS to debt-laden Four Seasons Healthcare have rejected the Wilmslow company's restructuring proposal and the care home operator will now be put up for sale.

Four Seasons, which owes a total of £1.4bn, put a debt-for-equity deal to lenders in June, and gave them a deadline of Monday to agree to it, seeking to bring to an end a year-long tussle over how to cut its debt load.

Bond administrator Hatfield Philips said that following lenders' rejection of the deal it would now pursue "an orderly and well-managed sale of the group".

The company's property portfolio was valued at £900m by Knight Frank late last year but real estate values have fallen since then.