Four CitiApartments affiliates file for bankruptcy

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Four real estate entities owned by San Francisco's biggest landlord, the Lembi Group, filed for Chapter 11 protection in a California bankruptcy court on Monday, according to court documents.

The entities are affiliates of Lembi Group's CitiApartments Inc, the largest apartment owner in San Francisco. The four entities collectively own 16 residential properties, which were collateral for a $132.4 million loan.

The four entities that filed for bankruptcy are Hermann Street DE LLC, LRL Citi Properties I DE LLC, Sutter Associates DE LLC and Trophy Properties I DE LLC.

In court papers, Hermann Street said it filed for bankruptcy after CW Capital Asset Management LLC, which is a special servicer for part of the loan, was unwilling to agree to an extension on acceptable terms that would have allowed the company to refinance.

In January, a media report said that the closely held Lembi Group was trying to renegotiate about $1 billion in debt to save dozens of buildings in its portfolio and had handed over 51 buildings to one of its lenders because of bad loans.

The case is In re: Hermann Street DE LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco), No. 10-30413. (Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)