Indian vaccine baron to buy London’s most expensive mansion
Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), the largest vaccine manufacturing company in the world by volume, has sealed a deal to purchase the decades-old Aberconway House in London for almost $175 million.
According to UK media reports, it will be the biggest property deal this year and second-highest amount known to be paid for a London property after Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan’s purchase of the 8 Rutland Gate mansion for a reported $232 million in 2020.
The Indian tycoon bought the property from Dominika Kulczyk, who inherited it from her father, the late Jan Kulczyk. The latter was once the richest man in Poland, according to Forbes. India Today reported that the property will be acquired by Serum Life Sciences, a British subsidiary of SII. The Poonawallas had reportedly previously been renting the property in Mayfair, in the heart of the UK capital, for more than $65,000 a week before they bought it.
SII was founded by Poonawallah’s father, Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, in 1966. Cyrus‘ net worth is listed at $22.1 billion by Forbes. According to Financial Times, CII was already a prominent player in the vaccine manufacturing realm, exporting its products to over 30 countries, when Adar joined the company.
SII has been in the news lately for taking the lead in the race to develop vaccines against Covid-19. The company developed vaccines in collaboration with several international players and also produced the first batches of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in India. In a press statement in October, SII revealed that it had delivered 2 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine across the world.
Adar Poonawalla is based in the city of Pune of in India’s Maharashtra state, although he spent many years studying in the UK, including at the prestigious St. Edmund’s School in Canterbury, and later the University of Westminster. He and his wife Natasha are known as socialites who rub shoulders with major Bollywood celebrities and the top names of the fashion world. The Poonawallas are said to be friends with Indian-origin Hollywood starlet Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband Nick, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the famous Kapoor clan of Bollywood.
According to media reports, Poonawalla’s purchase of Aberconway is the most expensive property transaction in the UK capital this year. Interestingly, the previous highest amount shelled out for a property in 2023 was also by an Indian billionaire. In July, Ravi Ruia, the co-owner of Essar Group, acquired a $145 million mansion previously owned by Andrey Goncharenko, a Russian property investor and former deputy CEO of Gazprom Invest Yug.
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