Sricken UK telecoms company Energis has till Friday 5 July to sign up to a rescue package or face potential collapse, reports say.

The Carlyle Group, a powerful US-based investment group whose board includes George Bush, ex-US president and father of the current incumbent, and venture capitalists Apax are offering Energis a buyout worth �600-700m, according to Sunday papers.

Apax is being advised by former Energis chief executive Mike Grabiner, according to the Sunday Times.

The firm owes its bankers about �700m, and its bondholders another �1bn.

Riches to rags

But since the sum on offer will still force heavy write-offs by creditors, the banks have been pushing for a better deal.

According to the Financial Mail on Sunday, Energis is asking for more money, setting a Wednesday deadline for an improved offer.

But with telecoms companies collapsing right and left, and in the wake of the WorldCom fiasco, no better offer is likely to emerge.

Energis was one of the darlings of the UK telecoms boom in the 1990s, spun off from the National Grid and then rising to a valuation of �14bn.

But the downturn and the massive over-supply of telecoms capacity since then means its shares are now worth only pennies, and its customers - its main remaining asset, according to the Financial Mail on Sunday - are fleeing.