Ukraine Billionaire Emerges as Buyer of $220 Million French Home

(Bloomberg) -- Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, has emerged as the buyer of the historic Villa Les Cedres in the south of France.

The sprawling estate on the French Riviera is a “long-term investment”, according to a statement from Akhmetov’s SCM Holdings Limited. Davide Campari-Milano SpA agreed to sell the property last year for 200 million euros, or about $220 million at the time, the company said in August, without naming the buyer.

Akhmetov, who has amassed a $6.1 billion fortune according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, founded System Capital Management JSC, Ukraine’s largest industrial conglomerate. He also owns Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club.

The billionaire’s latest acquisition adds one of France’s most storied properties to a real estate portfolio that includes an apartment in London’s One Hyde Park development opposite the Harrods department store in Knightsbridge. His purchase of Villa Les Cedres was first reported by the Financial Times earlier Monday.

See also: Photos of One of the World’s Most Expensive Homes

“Real estate is a key business area for investment in Europe and North America along with mining and metals, energy, media and transportation,” the company’s statement said.

Italian distiller Campari acquired the property when it bought the Grand Marnier Group in 2016. It appointed broker Savills to list the villa for 350 million euros the following year.

The 14-bedroom mansion is set in 35 acres in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and was once owned by King Leopold II of Belgium before being sold to the Marnier-Lapostolle family in the 1920s.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke, Patrick Henry

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