UK developer City Lofts appoints administrators

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Inner-city property developer City Lofts Group Limited said on Friday that it had appointed Ernst & Young LLP as administrators of the firm, becoming one of the first notable casualties of Britain's housing downturn.

Privately owned City Lofts Group Limited is the holding company of residential property firm City Lofts Developments Limited. It is part-owned by U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and private equity firm JER Partners. The company, under the prompting of creditor HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) unit Bank of Scotland, put 250 unsold apartments in several regional English cities under receivership in a separate move earlier this week.

A statement from City Lofts said the directors had appointed Ernst & Young partners and directors Maggie Mills, Angela Swarbrick and Charles King as administrators of CLG. (Reporting by William Kemble-Diaz; Editing by Paul Bolding) (See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters).