Polish billionaire splashes out £57million for Knightsbridge mansion near Harrods in latest big-money purchase that shows London property market is picking up
- Dominika Kulczyk is a successful business woman from Warsaw, Poland
- 42-year-old is the daughter of one of Poland’s richest ever men who died in 2015
- Was left some of his estate and is a majority shareholder of an energy company
Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk has splashed out £57 million on a Knightsbridge mansion near Harrods in the latest big-money purchase that shows a clear uptick for the London property market.
The 42-year-old is a successful businesswoman and the daughter of one of Poland’s richest ever men, Jan Kulczyk.
Mr Kulczyk died in 2015 and left his fortune to his two children, Dominika and her brother Sebastian Kulczyk.
Ms Kulczyk purchased the lavish property from residential developer Mike Spink, who is best known for selling a historic mansion near Buckingham Palace last year for a whopping £95 million.
Dominika Kulczyk purchased the property in an area close to one of London’s most famous department store, Harrods
She managed to get a great deal on two stucco-fronted Georgian townhouses and paid well less than the asking price
Ms Kulczyk (pictured above) splashed out £57 million on the mansion. She is a business woman and works on an international basis
Ms Kulczyk’s purchase of the property comes as property across the UK is set for a boost with new data being revealed this week that showed a slight revival in the property market before the election
Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin snapped up the property, which is around half a mile away from the Queen’s residence.
Ms Kulczyk has been living in London for a number of years.
It is thought Ms Kulczyk may have paid for the property with the profits from an off-shore wind company, that she is the majority shareholder of.
She managed to get a great deal on the two stucco-fronted Georgian townhouses, the original asking price had been £65 million.
Some of her wealth comes from her stake in off-shore wind project, Polenergia.
Jan Kulczyk (pictured above) died and left his fortune to his two children. He was Poland’s richest man
Sebastian Kulczyk is also a billionaire and split his father’s fortune with his sister who recently purchased the Knightsbridge property
In 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of the company came in at £15.7 million for the first quarter of the year – an £8 million surge on 2018 earnings.
The two siblings divided the estate in 2018 and Ms Kulczyk took most of the cash, Forbes said, with some of the funds also coming from the family’s 2016 of its stake in multinational brewing and beverage company SAB Miller, which is headquartered in London.
The business woman also heads up the Kulczyk Foundation, which she launched in 2013 in order to help the poorest people in Poland.
She married Jan Lubomirski-Lanckoroński in 2001 and they later divorced in 2013, the couple have three children together.
Blockbuster deals in the Capital
As London continues to rake in the cash from large property sales, where have the biggest sales been?
According the estate agent Knight Frank prices for luxury homes in London’s most expensive areas were flat last month.
In January Chinese property magnate Cheung Chung Kiu purchased a home in Knightsbridge for £200 million, setting a record for the capital.
At the start of this month a mega-mansion in London on ‘billionaire’s row’ hit the market for £75 million, making it the most expensive listed property in 2020 so far.
In August 2019 a property in Belgravia was also sold for a cool £25.5 million.
11 bedroom property in Belgravia, London – £25.5 million. The picture above shows one of the living spaces in the property
Ms Kulczyk’s purchase of the property comes as property across the UK is set for a boost with new data being revealed this week that showed a slight revival in the property market before the election.
House prices rise in every region of the UK were up for almost two years.
House prices picked up in London, which saw an annual rise of 2.3 per cent but the South East saw the lowest gain last year of 1.2 per cent.
House price inflation has tailed off since the EU referendum in June 2016, with London suffering the most. In recent months, the market appears to have picked up slightly, as uncertainty surrounding Brexit began to clear up.
Since the election estate agents and property listing sites Rightmove and Zoopla have reported an increase in activity, although agents have warned sellers against getting overconfident and hiking prices.
Even though prices are picking up across the UK, it is still lagging behind as Ms Kulczyk purchased the property for less than the asking price.
It was below Savills’ £65 million valuation.
The amount Ms Kulczyk paid for the residence – a comprehensive redevelopment of two stucco-fronted Georgian townhouses – was below Savills’ £65m valuation, another filing shows .
A spokesperson for Ms Kulczyk confirmed to MailOnline that she had purchased the Knightsbridge property.