In a sale that was never likely to make even the most exclusive of property websites, Indian billionaire Ravi Ruia has bought Hanover Lodge, a 25,800-square-foot mega mansion in London's Regent's Park.
According to sources, the Ruia family bought the property from an offshore company based in Gibraltar.
The Financial Times newspaper reported that Land Registry records show that Andrey Goncharenko, the Russian property investor and chief executive of the Gazprom subsidiary Invest Yug, bought the property’s outstanding lease 11 years ago from Conservative peer Raj Kumar Bagri for £120 million.
According to the Land Registry, the leasehold has been owned by the Gibraltar-registered company, Green Palace Gardens, since 2012.
The freehold is owned by the Crown Estate, the portfolio of properties that is best described as the publicly owned lands of the sovereign.
King Charles III, while owner of the Crown Estate, has no management or administrative role over it, but does derive an income from it.
The Hanover Lodge mansion, which – at 150 Park Road on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park – is next door to the Regent's Park mosque, was the residence of the French ambassador to the UK at one time.
Mr Ruia and his family made their fortune from the Essar conglomerate, which has $8 billion in assets under management. He founded the company with his brother Shashi in 1969 in southern India.
From their first contract building a breakwater in the port of Chennai, the business is now in 15 countries in sectors including metal, mining, infrastructure and energy.
'Rarity is the key'
The ultra-prime high-end of London's property market still retains a certain secrecy, despite laws introduced last year that require offshore companies that own property in England and Wales to name their ultimate owner in a register of overseas entities.
Nonetheless, it seems that activity at the extremely high end of the London property market remains robust, simply because the demand is perennial.
What keeps deals and prices active is the matching of that demand with a very small supply of ultra-prime trophy properties at the high-end.
“The rarity is the key to this,” Trevor Abrahmsohn, managing director of Glentree International told The National.
“As Mark Twain said, they're not building any more land. For instance, I've got a sovereign buyer that's looking to spend up to £500 million on a property.
“So, it's not the buying strength necessarily. It's the availability of the property, which is rare.
“Supply is ridiculous. But they do come up very occasionally. And there will always be a buyer for it.”
