Bovey and his wife, former TV golden girl Anthea Turner, have been forced to sell their £5m Surrey mansion after losing a whopping £100m in the credit crunch.
Speaking at last year’s Entrepreneurs’ Summit, Bovey admitted that his buy-to-let business, Imagine Homes, was in the eye of the economic storm: “In all my years in business, I’ve never witnessed anything quite like it. And there’s more bad news to come, no doubt about it. I’d say we’re only a third of the way through the downturn.”
He wasn’t wrong. Despite his optimistic claim that Imagine Homes would “emerge leaner and fitter”, his business is now in the hands of HBOS, Bovey’s former business partners, who have taken over amid chaos in the property market.
Sister company Imagine Furnishings – run by Bovey’s wife – also filed for administration late last year.
“Our net worth was over £100m. Now it’s an awful lot less, just a small fraction of what it was,” Bovey has said.
Read about Bovey during his heyday here.
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