A steel tycoon swimming in money has shelled out a world-record $128 million for a London mansion that comes with some fabulous fixtures, including a gem-encrusted basement pool.
India-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal bought the 12-bedroom digs in Kensington Palace Gardens that’s fitted out with marble pillars and floors cut from the same quarry that provided the stone for the Taj Mahal.
The towering tab shattered the world record for the priciest house sale in 1997 – $101.6 million in Hong Kong.
Mittal, 53, who owns the LNM Group and is said to be worth $6.4 billion, lives in Britain and bought the lavish pied-a-terre on London’s “billionaire’s row” from Formula One racing car boss Bernie Ecclestone.
And it wasn’t just location, location, location, but opulence, opulence, opulence that triggered the lofty price. The five-story mansion was cobbled together from two properties – the former Egyptian embassy and a one-time Russian Embassy annex.
During the 1990s, Iranian-born art collector David Khalili bought the house and gave it a megamillion-dollar makeover.
It included lifting the house to build a swimming pool in the basement where six marble columns are inlaid with precious jewels.
With Post Wire Services