The plummeting property market claimed a host of celebrity victims yesterday when companies whose investors include Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir David Frost and Grant Bovey collapsed into administration.

The Times has learnt that aAim, a £3 billion property investment company backed by HBOS and chaired by Sir David, has gone into administration. It is feared that shareholders will lose all their investments.

AAim spent billions of pounds on properties in Britain and mainland Europe, before the market fell last summer. Property prices in Britain have dropped by as much as 35 per cent since then. AAim had a number of well-known sponsors. Sir Alex, the Manchester United manager, was still listed as a founder shareholder and investor last night.

“I have been impressed by the energetic team, their clarity of vision and by the consistent high returns they have delivered,” Sir Alex is quoted as saying.

Sir David, the veteran TV presenter, tells potential investors: “I have first hand experience of aAim’s approach and style of investment. The team here has impressed me greatly.”

Grant Thornton, which was appointed by a court as the administrator of aAim yesterday, and HBOS were unavailable for comment last night, but a source close confirmed that Sir Alex and Sir David still held investments in the company as recently as two weeks ago. Simon Cowell, the pop impressario who is a judge on the reality TV show The X Factor, has also been linked with the company.

The failure of aAim is a significant setback for HBOS, which had invested £200 million in the company and held a 20 per cent stake. The bank had also lent heavily to fund aAim’s acquisition programme, although it is expected to recover most of the debt. HBOS is merging with Lloyds TSB to create a bank in which taxpayers will hold a 40 per cent stake.

Insiders liken the collapse of aAim to the bankruptcy of Dawnay Day, a complex £2 billion property and financial conglomerate that collapsed earlier this year. Both companies’ financial health depended heavily on high borrowings and rising property prices. When the credit crunch hit and the property market collapsed, their business models were no longer sustainable.

Imagine Prestige and Imagine Veritas, two other companies backed by HBOS and run by Mr Bovey, 47, also went into administration yesterday. The two companies are believed to be the last vestiges of the buy-to-let propery empire founded by Mr Bovey, who is married to the TV presenter Anthea Turner.

Imagine Prestige, set up in last year, sold furnished properties with guaranteed rental income, taking a management fee of 10 per cent of the rent for two years. Formerly one of the biggest operators in the buy-to-let market, it has been hit by the downturn in the residential property market.

Last year it had a turnover of £53 million for the 2006-07 financial year, down £3 million on the previous year. It has reported losses of £6.4 million and £2.8 million in past two financial years. Its latest accounts were apparently overdue.

CLARIFICATION: aAIM Group

We have been asked to make it clear that it is not aAIM Group that has gone into administration (“Celebrity crunch: property firm to the stars goes bust”, December 4) but its subsidiary aAIM Ltd (now called JCCO 114 Ltd), and that Sir David Frost was the chairman of the aAIM Group Advisory Panel (a position that he relinquished in late 2007), not of the company board. We are happy to set the record straight.

Times Recommends

• Gazprom brands Ukraine 'a barbarian' in gas row
• Services sector raises fears over UK jobless
• Retailers surge as profits survive sales plunge