KEY POINTS:
The Villa Leopolda has smashed the record for the most expensive house in the world.
One of the most sumptuous estates on the Cote d'Azur, it has been sold to a Russian billionaire for ¬500 million ($1.07 billion).
The cream-coloured villa, set in 8ha of gardens overlooking Cap Ferrat, near Villefranche-sur-Mer, was originally built for King Leopold II of Belgium. Its new owner is said to be a Russian oil oligarch but not - despite rumours on the internet - Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, who already owns a ¬100 million mansion near Antibes.
According to the Nice-Matin newspaper a contract was signed last week to transfer ownership of the villa from Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra, the late Lebanese-Jewish banking billionaire.
The new owner, who will take possession next month, is reported by a property lawyer in Nice to be a Russian billionaire who wishes to remain anonymous. The price paid for the sprawling estate, which once belonged to the Agnelli family, founders of Fiat, has caused a flutter of excitement and even disgust on the French Mediterranean coast.
The highest house price officially recorded is the £100 million ($274 million) paid by the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal for a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens last year.
The price is said to reflect Safra's initial unwillingness to sell and the determination of the Russian super-rich to be seen to be paying stratospheric amounts for holiday homes in the south of France.
Nice-Matin, citing legal sources, said that 60 of the villas or mansions on Cap Ferrat are now owned by Russians.
- INDEPENDENT
