£929m buildings in sell-off of tycoon Halabi's fallen empire

Some of the most expensive office blocks in London are to be sold off to recover debts from the collapsed empire of property tycoon Simon Halabi.

The High Court has appointed accountancy firm Ernst & Young as administrator to off-load the six buildings, including the Aviva Tower in the City and JP Morgan's offices at 60 Victoria Embankment, which fell into negative equity.

It is the latest stage in the saga of Syrian-born Mr Halabi, 59, who has fallen victim to the credit crunch. Two years ago the financier and former owner of gym chain Esporta was the 14th wealthiest person in Britain and worth £3billion on the Sunday Times Rich List. He did not feature on the most recent list. This month the Standard revealed that six of his central London homes, unoccupied for years despite each being worth up to £20million, were at risk of being seized by Westminster council to protect them from squatting.

The six commercial properties believed to be owned by Mr Halabi through a Byzantine network of companies are part of a portfolio of nine now worth about £929million. They had been used as security on a £1.15billion loan.

Ernst & Young has three years to sell the properties but experts believe deals will be done sooner.

David Martin, of property services adviser CBRE, told The Times that "now is as good a time as ever" to sell the properties.

The other four are Millennium Bridge House, New Court, in Carey Street, Ludgate House on Bankside and Leadenhall Court in the City.