Source : Straits Times - 21 Aug 2008
Mystery buyer said to have paid $1b for palace in Cote d’Azur in France
PARIS: A mystery buyer, said to be a super-rich Russian, is believed to have broken a world record by buying a half-a-billion euro luxury home on France’s affluent Cote d’Azur.
Local and national media in France reported this week that the sprawling property, unusual and so especially prized in that it combines a sea view and palace- size dimensions, was purchased for 496 million euros (S$1.03 billion).
Most reports initially named the buyer as 43-year-old Russian mining tycoon Mikhail Prokho-
rov, who has long been a familiar figure in the discos, clubs and resorts of Cote d’Azur. He is the owner of Onexim Holdings investment company
But yesterday, the bachelor denied the reports through a spokesman in Moscow. The spokesman added that Mr Prokhorov refused to do business in France until police apologised for questioning him last year during an investigation into a high-priced prostitution ring.
His statement immediately rekindled lively speculation on the French Riviera about who will be moving into what could be the world’s most expensive home.
The seller of the property, the widow of Swiss banker Edmond Safra, has not confirmed either a deal or a price.
The property is called Villa Leopolda, after the Belgian king Leopold who had it built more than 100 years ago, but could more aptly be called a palace.
It includes 8.1ha of land planted with fruit trees and slender cypresses, boasts a giant swimming pool and is surrounded by a cascade of outbuildings and guest mansions.
The main building, used by Fiat boss Giovanni Agnelli as a residence in the 1950s, is also topped by a turret.
Real estate agents in the area around the port city of Nice, where the coastline is called ‘billionaires’ bay’, said Russians were bidding constantly on luxury properties like Villa Leopolda.
‘One of them paid 30 million euros for a villa that was on the market for 15, and claimed later that he had been ready to pay twice that,’ agent Jean-Marc de Broux told Le Monde newspaper.
Other names mentioned by real estate specialists in the area include Mr Roman Abramovich, owner of Britain’s Chelsea football club, who already has a chateau nearby. But he has also denied interest.
A third Russian billionaire on the list is industrialist Oleg Deripaska.
All three are ranked among the richest men in the world by Forbes magazine.
Also according to Forbes, the current highest-priced residence is a home in the upmarket London neighbourhood of Kensington, for which Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal reportedly paid US$222 million (S$315 million).
Mr Abramovich could outdo him in London, after receiving planning permission for a home in the same neighbourhood which he said would cost US$285 million.
But the sunshine and cachet of the French Riviera are getting most of the attention from newly rich Russian tycoons, said French author Alexandre Melnik, who has written about the history of wealthy Russians in France.
‘They got rich very quickly… and they want to show that wealth by their spending and their antics.’
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