The biggest residential property sale of the year in London is understood to have been agreed just before the Christmas break.
Adar Poonawalla, an Indian billionaire and heir to a vaccine fortune, has reached a deal on Aberconway House in Mayfair for £138 million, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Poonawalla is the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the company founded by his father Cyrus that is the world’s largest producer of vaccines.
It will be second highest amount of money known to be paid for a London house ever, after 8 Rutland Gate.
The 20-room mega mansion sold for £210 million back in 2020 to Hui Ka Yan, founder of Chinese property company Evergrande.
The Poonawalla’s had previously been renting Aberconway House for £50,000 a week before they bought it.
Ultra high net worth individuals have increasingly chosen to rent rather than buy in London’s ultra prime neighbourhoods, but this £138 million deal in the centre of the capital bucks the trend.
Poonawalla and his wife Natasha move in A-list circles and are friends with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Natasha Poonawalla has been photographed at Wimbledon with actress and producer Priyanka Chopra. Chopra lives down the road in west London with her husband, Nick Jonas.
