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Business India News London News

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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-Top News UK News

Princess Diana’s Historic Sweater Fetches Over $1.1 Million in Sotheby’s Auction

Bidding had opened on August 31 and the top bid stayed under $200,000 until the auction’s final minutes…reports Asian Lite News

A red sweater featuring a black sheep among rows of white ones worn by the late Princess Diana has fetched more than $1.1 million at an auction in Sotheby’s, New York.

In a tweet on Thursday, the auction house said: “Frenzied bidding pushed Princess Diana’s historic black sheep Warm & Wonderful sweater to sell at $1.1 million today in our inaugural Fashion Icons auction.”

According to Sotheby’s, Diana wore the sweater in 1981 to a polo match of Prince Charles.

Also that year, a letter from the Buckingham Palace to Warm and Wonderful — a British luxury knitwear brand — had “politely explaining the jumper had been damaged and requested either a repair or replacement”.

“Warm and Wonderful sent her a replacement sweater that she wore in 1983 to another polo match,” the auction house said in a description of the item.

Bidding had opened on August 31 and the top bid stayed under $200,000 until the auction’s final minutes.

Sotheby’s had estimated the value of the sweater at $50,000 to $80,000.

It however, did not disclose the identity of the winning bidder.

A BBC report said the sweater, which was unearthed in an attic in March, commanded a higher price than many other objects tied to the “People’s Princess” that were sold at auctions in recent years.

The sweater’s design is often described as symbolic of Diana’s place within the royal family.

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Kerala Lite Blogs

Kerala girl enters India Book of Records for Warli paintings

Najiya is the daughter of Navas and Najma of Kaniyauram in Thiruvananthapuram…reports Asian Lite News

Najiya Navas, a graduate from Thiruvananthapuram, has entered the India Book of Records by drawing pictures in the technique of Warli painting, an art form unique to the tribal community of North Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra.

A Warli painting made by her of 5 inches in length and breadth has fetched her the India Book of Records recognition. Her entry breaks the previous record of a 10-inch length and breadth Warli painting.

Najiya has not learned painting formally and picked up the tricks of the trade from the internet. She has drawn more than 100 pictures so far.

Najiya said that it was during the Covid-19 lockdown that she entered the world of Warli painting and has already sold several of her drawings online and earned money from it.

She said that she is planning to learn drawing and painting in a systematic manner from Mumbai in the coming days. Najiya has already sent her pictures to the Guinness World Records.

Najiya is the daughter of Navas and Najma of Kaniyauram in Thiruvananthapuram.

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