BC Partners, the private equity group that acquired Foxtons from Jon Hunt, its founder, for as much as £360m in May 2007, has agreed a refinancing deal that will halve the agent's debt in return for giving its lenders a majority stake.

Rumours of debt problems have been circulating for more than a year. Somewhere in the deal is a loan - directly from Jon Hunt - which will be written off. Hunt, of course, sold the estate agency right at the peak of the property market. The FT is first with the story. Read it here.

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