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Serum Life Sciences Sets London Record at £138 Million

The top end of London’s property market is insulated from the impact of higher borrowing costs, which have slowed the wider UK housing market this year, because few buyers rely on mortgages…reports Asian Lite News

India’s billionaire “vaccine prince” Adar Poonawalla has reached a deal for London’s most expensive home sale of the year, agreeing to pay about 138 mn pound for a 25,000 square foot Mayfair mansion, media reports said.

Aberconway House, a vast 1920s home near Hyde Park, will change hands after a sale was agreed by Dominika Kulczyk, daughter of the late businessman Jan Kulczyk, who was Poland’s richest man, Financial Times reported.

The property will be acquired by Serum Life Sciences, a UK subsidiary of the Poonawalla family’s Serum Institute of India, people familiar with the transaction said, it said.

The price tag makes Aberconway House the second-most expensive home ever sold in London and the biggest deal of the year, according to luxury property agents, Financial Times reported.

The top end of London’s property market is insulated from the impact of higher borrowing costs, which have slowed the wider UK housing market this year, because few buyers rely on mortgages.

Trophy properties in London have remained attractive to international buyers despite new transparency measures brought in to help target Russian money after the war in Ukraine, and the prospect of tax changes if the Labour party wins the next UK general election.

A person close to Serum Life Sciences said the Poonawalla family had “no plans” to move to the UK permanently, but that “the house will serve as a base for the company and family when they are in the UK”. The London deal follows multimillion-pound investments in vaccine research and manufacturing facilities near Oxford, the person added, Financial Times reported.

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India News

India at No. 3 on list of centi-millionaires

It is closely followed by big emerging markets of China and India in second and third place, with 2,021 and 1,132 centi-millionaires, respectively…reports Asian Lite News

With levels of poverty, inflation and hunger notwithstanding, India ranks third in the world’s first-ever global study on the rise of centi-millionaires — individuals with assets of more than Rs 830 crore ($100 million), a new report has revealed.

Out of the world’s 25,490 centi-millionaires, India has 1,132, beating countries like the UK, Russia and Switzerland, in a swift growing and powerful class of super-rich tech titans, financiers, multinational CEOs, and heirs.

By 2032, India will overtake China (number 2) as the fastest growing market for centi-millionaires, with an anticipated 80 per cent growth rate in individuals worth over $100 million, the report released by international investment migration advisory firm Henley & Partners stated.

“At around 57 per cent, the growth of centi-millionaires in Asia will be twice that of Europe and the US over the next decade. Concentrated primarily in China and India, the centi-millionaires in these countries are set to eclipse their European and American peers,” said Misha Glenny, a financial journalist and author.

Of the world’s 25,490 centi-millionaires, the US, which ranks at number 1, is home to 38 per cent (9,730) of global centi-millionaires, despite constituting only 4 per cent of the world’s total population.

It is closely followed by big emerging markets of China and India in second and third place, with 2,021 and 1,132 centi-millionaires, respectively.

The UK is in fourth place (with 968 centi-millionaires) followed closely by Germany in fifth place (with 966).

Switzerland (808), Japan (765), Canada (541), Australia (463), and finally Russia (435) make up the rest of the top 10 countries for centi-millionaires.

The report states that in the late 1990s, $30 million was considered the definition of ‘super wealthy’, but asset prices have risen significantly since then, making $100 million the new benchmark.

It further says that the number of centi-millionaires has doubled over the past 20 years, and “their capital accumulation has been dramatically accelerated by the economically and socially disruptive effects of technology and the recent Covid pandemic”.

While a growing number of younger entrepreneurs who founded successful tech companies are newcomers to the club, Baby Boomers — people born from 1946 to 1964 — still tend to dominate the centi-millionaire circle despite many now cashing in their stock options and selling their businesses.

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