Pete Redfern, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, hasn鈥檛 ruled out selling a stake in the housebuilder to a private equity group.

Speaking after the company announced a 拢1.5bn loss on Wednesday, he said he wouldn鈥檛 dismiss any fundraising options despite the likelihood of the group鈥檚 banks easing pressure on it by relaxing their lending terms.

He said: 鈥淥ur first priority is to get the covenant negotiations completed. After that we will look at fresh options.鈥�

A private equity source close to the company said: 鈥淭he bank deal will buy it time but it still has a longer-term need for fresh cash.鈥�

Redfern said he was confident that the talks would reach a successful resolution but said this was 鈥渁 number of weeks away鈥�.

Kevin Cammack, an analyst at Kaupthing, said the prospect of a bank deal was the crucial piece of news from its financial results for the six months to 30 June 2008.

Over the period, the firm made a pre-tax loss of 拢1.5bn on turnover of 拢1.9bn. This followed a land writedown of 拢690m and a goodwill writedown of 拢816m after last year鈥檚 merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey.

Elsewhere, pre-tax profit slumped by 80% at Bovis Homes in the first half of the year, from 拢58.4m to 拢11.7m, and turnover dropped 43% from 拢260m to 拢149.3m.

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