Annie Leibovitz, the celebrity photographer, is turning to Colony Capital, a private equity firm better known for its real estate investments, for loans to help clean up her finances, people familiar with the deal said.

Under terms of their arrangement, Colony will become Ms Leibovitz’s sole creditor and help her market a library of photographs that includes such images as her Vanity Fair magazine cover of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore and her Rolling Stone photo of a nude John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono.

Ms Leibovitz, 60, was at risk of losing the rights to her photographs and her three Greenwich Village townhouses after falling behind on payments to Art Capital, a firm that describes its speciality as assisting “artists in creating liquidity from art assets”. Ms Leibovitz had an agreement to borrow up to $24m (€17.6m) from Art Capital.

Ms Leibovitz will retain the rights to more than 100,000 photographs and about 1m negatives stored in a warehouse in Manhattan.

“We will be partners in managing her assets and her business so that Annie can spend her time and focus in pursuing her passion as only she can do,” said Tom Barrack, founder of Los-Angeles-based Colony, which manages about $30bn.

Potential plans include travelling photographic exhibitions, and printing fine art copies of her work, he said.

“Colony is a dedicated and creative team,” Ms Leibovitz said. “We will be working on new projects and I will have the support and freedom necessary for nurturing my work and preserving my archive.”

Art Capital declined to comment.

This is the second time Colony has been involved in a transaction involving a prominent show business figure. In May 2008, Colony purchased a loan with a face value of about $23.5m on Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch. Colony has not disclosed the price it paid for the loan, but the transaction left it with the rights to the late entertainer’s 2,700-acre estate in California.

Colony plans to put the Neverland property up for sale and anticipates bids ranging from $50m-$100m, according to people familiar with the matter.