Fugitive Billionaire Lau Selling $26 Million Hockney

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau will be the seller of one of the most expensive artworks at the year’s first major auction, according to a person familiar with the matter.

David Hockney’s “The Splash” will be offered anonymously at Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in London on Feb. 11. The 1966 canvas is estimated at 20 million pounds ($26.1 million) to 30 million pounds. The work last came to the market in 2006, when it fetched 2.9 million pounds at Sotheby’s. The current owner acquired the work at that sale, according to the provenance listed by Sotheby’s.

A spokeswoman for the auction house declined to comment, while Lau didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Lau, 68, is the controlling shareholder of Chinese Estates Holdings, a Hong Kong property developer that builds offices, shopping malls and housing projects. He has an $8.4 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

In 2014, he was convicted of bribery and money-laundering in Macau. He avoided a five-year jail term by not traveling there. Last year, Lau filed -- and later retracted -- a lawsuit challenging the government’s proposal for extraditions to China, Macau and Taiwan, which has since ignited months of protests and crippled Hong Kong’s economy.

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Known for his investments in art, wine and jewelry, Lau spent $17.4 million on Andy Warhol’s “Mao” in 2006 and $39.2 million on Paul Gauguin’s “Te Poipoi” in 2007. He bought five diamonds for $128 million from 2009 through 2015.

--With assistance from Blake Schmidt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum, Steven Crabill

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