Billionaire pays $211.6 million for London apartment
Rinat Akhmetov, owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk, holds the UEFA Cup Trophy following his team’s victory after extra time at the end of the UEFA Cup Final between Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on May 20, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.
The richest man in Ukraine, billionaire steel baron Rinat Akhmetov, has set a price record for a British residence, buying a two-floor apartment for $211.6 million.
The oligarch, the son of a coal miner, will also spend reportedly spend close to $100 million fitting out the property in the One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge, the Sun reported.
A spokesman for Akhmetov's holding company, System Capital Management — a Ukrainian conglomerate involved in mining, retail, financial services and even soccer — confirmed the purchase, according to the Independent.
Even as millions of Ukrainians live life on the poverty line, Akhmetov's fortune continues to rise. Forbes in 2010 estimated his worth at $16 billion, making him the 39th richest person in the world – above financier George Soros, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich.
As the owner of a business dealing in coal, ore-mining and steel, his net worth is likely to have increased further over the past year on the back of the commodities boom.
He is a staunch supporter of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the most successful businessman to have emerged from the chaos of the post-Soviet grab for wealth, according to the Telegraph.
It is thought only half of the 80 homes in One Hyde Park have been sold.
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