Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Real estate investor Simon Halabi lost control of seven London office buildings after defaulting on 1.15 billion pounds ($1.84 billion) of bonds tied to the properties.

CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the manager of the bonds, has appointed Ernst & Young LLP as receiver for the properties, according to a statement today from CBRE Loan Servicing Ltd.

The receiver will collect the rent from the buildings and seek to preempt an order by the U.K. government to seize the properties for unpaid taxes, according to people familiar with the matter. Companies controlled by Halabi borrowed 1.45 billion pounds against nine properties in 2006 when they were valued at 1.83 billion pounds. About 1.15 billion pounds of the debt was packaged into bonds. In June, the offices were valued at 929 million pounds, according to an estimate commissioned by former loan servicer Hatfield Philips.

The receivers “will act to secure rental income in the interests of lenders,” CBRE said in the statement. CBRE hasn’t instructed anyone to sell the properties, the company said.

The buildings put into receivership are: JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s offices at 60 Victoria Embankment; Aviva Tower; Millennium Bridge House; New Court, Carey Street; Ludgate House; Sampson House and Leadenhall Court, according to the statement.

Taxes Owed

Halabi, 51, didn’t return a call for comment left at Buckingham Securities Holdings, his property advisory company, which is in the process of being liquidated. Kamlesh Bathia, his spokesman, didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Philip Cropper, head of CB Richard Ellis’s corporate finance division, and Vicky Conybeer, a spokeswoman for Ernst & Young, declined to comment.

CB Richard Ellis is allowed to appoint a receiver over any of the borrower’s assets, according to the bonds’ 2006 prospectus. The buildings being put into receivership are those that owe taxes, the people said, who declined to be identified. Two other buildings backing the bonds weren’t assigned receivers.

Earlier this month, the U.K. government said Halabi’s companies owed 4.77 million pounds in taxes on the London office buildings.

Default

White Tower 2006-3 Plc issued the bonds. In June, the deal became the largest single borrower commercial mortgage-backed securities to default in the U.K. Debt agreements were breached after the nine buildings lost half their value.

Syrian-born Halabi started as a director of the real-estate investment company Property Trust in the 1980s and is a billionaire, according to Forbes magazine. He was among investors who benefited from the property boom that was fueled by the growth of securitization.

Halabi’s assets include the Naval and Military Club on London’s Piccadilly and Mentmore Towers, the former home of Baron Mayer de Rothschild in Buckinghamshire, England. He was one of the original backers of the planned London skyscraper called the Shard before selling his stake last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Bourke in London at cbourke4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 25, 2009 12:58 EDT