The future of Travelzest, a tour operator offering holidays ranging from naturist resorts to trips to Cuba and Morocco, is in doubt this weekend after the company failed to secure £2m pledged to it in a fundraising.

A source close to the company claims that two shareholders withdrew an offer to inject fresh funds into the company after they tried to change the terms of the deal at the last minute.

AIM-listed Travelzest thought it had raised £5.7m through the issue of new shares, funds it needs to meet lending agreements with its banks. It announced on Friday morning to the stock exchange that investors had approved the share placing.

However, after the market closed in the afternoon, the company said that investors accounting for £2m of the new funds had failed to meet the deadline for paying the money, and that it would need to find an alternative means of securing the funds.

It has asked for its shares to be suspended, “pending clarification of its financial position”.

Travelzest bosses will hold talks with other shareholders this week to secure the missing £2m. The board is working with advisers from Investec, the investment bank, and management is said to be “fairly confident” of being able to make up the shortfall, according to one insider.

The source said the problem arose after two investors tried to change the terms of the fundraising — a move that was resisted by the Travelzest board. “They weren’t going to be held over a barrel,” he said. “It was those terms or no terms.”

It is expected that the company will know by the end of this week whether it has been able to find the £2m shortfall.

Under its current lending arrangements, Travelzest is due to repay £2m to its banks by November but the company stated this month that it is unlikely to be able to meet this obligation without attracting fresh funds.

It had arranged an amended debt facility but this was dependent on the success of the share placing.

The situation is more bad news for Travelzest, following a split with its founder and former chief executive, Chris Mottershead.

He had been suspended in April over allegations — later proven to be without foundation — of misappropriation of company funds. Mottershead left the business last month.

Travelzest listed on AIM in 2005. At the time, its main business was VFB Holidays, a provider of villas in France, but it has expanded through a series of acquisitions. These included Peng Travel, which runs naturists’ resorts, Best of Morocco, Captivating Cuba and The Cruise Professionals, a leading provider of luxury cruises.

Its biggest deal was acquiring the Canadian travel company Itravel 2000 for £24.5m in 2006.

The head of that business, Jonathan Carroll, replaced Mottershead as chief executive this summer.

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