Could Abramovich be eyeing a Kensington Palace Gardens home?

Rumours abound at the moment of a sale on Kensington Palace Gardens, one of London’s most exclusive streets. Dubbed “Billionaires’ Row”, Lakshmi Mittal, the UK’s wealthiest man, owns property on this tree-lined park-side road, as does Foxtons’ founder Jonathan Hunt and the Saudi royal family. So we sent writer Jessie Hewitson to dig a little deeper.
Houses here have very rarely come onto the market – until now. According to sources, Belgian hedge fund manager Pierre LaGrange and his wife Catherine have put their million-pound pad up for sale. LaGrange is co-founder of GLG Partners, one of the most successful hedge funds in the country. This year’s Sunday Times Rich List placed him at #201, with a fortune of £331 million.

The rumoured price tag for the Kensington Palace Gardens property is £30 million, which will boost LaGrange’s personal fortune still further. Its unusually long Land Registry report shows that the 10-bedroom house was bought for £19 million in 2004, and despite being a house it is leasehold, with 118 years left to run. The Crown Estate (i.e. the Queen) owns the freehold and the ground rent is predictably steep: in 2004 it cost £10,000 a year, but according to the Land Registry report this could rise to £160,000.

The house sale coincides with the office-relocation of an even wealthier businessman: Roman Abramovich, who has moved his headquarters from Chelsea to Knightsbridge, close to Kensington Palace Gardens. As a result property industry insiders have been speculating that the Russian oligarch may be aware of the sale and is taking a strong interest.

If he is interested in purchasing the property it is likely to be because he can’t resist snapping up such a rarely available trophy home, or perhaps he is viewing the purchase as an investment or to gift to a family member. It’s unlikely to be for his personal use, as work is currently underway on the mega-home he owns in Knightsbridge, which he plans to share with girlfriend Daria Zhukova and their two-year-old son Aaron. They are knocking together two adjoining townhouses on Lowndes Square, creating one palatial residence. The houses were originally home to a combined nine flats, and when finished will feature eight bedrooms and span a jaw-dropping 30,000 sq ft, five times the area of the average five-bed home.

Tags: For Sale, Kensington, London, Roman Abramovich, UK