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The housebuilder has debt of 拢904m, which it plans to reduce by 拢200m by December using trading income and by scaling down its business.

The overall figure comprises 拢580m in largely US private debt holdings, a loan of 拢270m from a syndicate of 15 lenders, and other overdraft facilities of about 拢53m.

At its trading update this week, which it brought forward by three weeks to halt the recent slump in its share price (see graph), Mike Killoran, finance director, said banks understood the housebuilder was healthy because it could generate cash.

In reference to the private debt holders, he said: 鈥淲e are keeping them up to speed with events. They have their own constraints but they have been with us for a number of years. We expect we can work together to put the business on a sound footing.鈥�

But some analysts questioned whether an agreement was a foregone conclusion. One said the fact that Persimmon had brought forward refinancing talks from autumn 2009 to the first half of next year was a tacit admission that it was set to breach lending covenants.

He said: 鈥淧ersimmon gives the impression that lenders will be keen to do business with it but in the syndicate that shares 拢270m of its debt there are some small financial institutions that may not have the appetite鈥� (see box).

He added: 鈥淎mong the private placement noteholders, there may be some for whom a breach will automatically trigger a call-in of the debt. The company鈥檚 got a great management team but it鈥檚 your debt that will screw you up in this market, not your operational skills.鈥�

At its trading update, Persimmon announced a land writedown of 拢600m. Despite this, the company said trading for the full year would be in line with expectations and it would complete about 10,000 homes in 2008 compared with 15,905 last year.

Persimmon鈥檚 sliding share price