In 2020, the heirs of the Saudi Arabian crown, owners of this extraordinary mansion, staged the highest real estate sale in London. The mansion was bought by Chinese billionaire Cheung Chung-kiu who paid more than 227 million dollars. The property was later acquired by Chinese real estate tycoon Hui Ka Yan, chairman of the board and secretary of the Evergrande Group Communist Party.
Businessman Cheung Chung-kiu is the leader of CC Land, Y.T. Realty and Yugang International, a company that sold projects to Evergrande in China, which places the Chinese as good business partners.
The Financial Times carried out an investigation in which, apparently, the papers show that the owner of the property is actually Vision Perfect Global Limited, a company located in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. It is based in London and is led by two CC Land executives. The key to the puzzle is that it is 75% owned by Ding Yumei, wife of Hui Ka Yan, thus indirectly making him the owner of the property.
Today the property is again for sale for 240 million dollars. In a scenario in which Evergrande is in the middle of a financial crisis, the owner of the mansion might be wanting to get rid of it to achieve greater liquidity and save the real estate company.
But who can afford this property?
His efforts to achieve greater liquidity to save the company substantially reduced his net worth, as the $30 billion he reported having in 2019 dwindled to $6 billion. However who could buy such property? According to The Guardian, “Middle Eastern royal families and millionaire American investors” are listed as potential buyers. In the opinion of other international newspapers, experts in the sector estimate that interested buyers could haggle over the sale price, taking advantage of the difficult economic situation of its owner.
The mansion has 45 rooms, eight floors and 5,760 square meters and is located in the Knightsbridge area, one of the most elegant neighborhoods in the city frequently chosen by the English aristocracy, including movie and music celebrities. Georgian and Victorian are actually the architectural style of the buildings built there so as this mansion. Also the white stucco on the façade of the house in question is aligned with this profile, and it is located precisely at numbers 2-8a Rutland Gate, overlooking Hyde Park.
The property originally consisted of four separate houses built in the mid-19th century that were unified in the 1980s.
The interior of the house is decorated with a significant share of gold, present in its many chandeliers, lamps and mirrors. On the report of different media, the designers Monzer Hammoud and Alberto Pinto were in charge of its interior design. Among its amenities we can point out the pool, the underground parking lot and the various elevators. A popular fact is that its 116 windows are believed to be bulletproof.
