London, Dec 13 (Agency) Billionaire CEO of Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawalla, has sealed a deal to buy a multi-million-pound mansion in London’s Mayfair, the Financial Times reported. The sale of the 25,000-square-foot mansion located near Hyde Park in London will make it the most expensive home sale of the year. Aberconway House, located near London’s famous Hyde Park, is a vast 1920s home and will be reportedly sold for at least 138 million pounds (approximately 1,444.4 crore), the FT report said. Dominika Kulczyk, the daughter of the late Polish businessman Jan Kulczyk, will reportedly sell the property to Mr Poonawalla. As per reports, the property will be acquired by Serum Life Sciences, a British subsidiary of the Poonawalla family’s Serum Institute of India. 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.
New home sales in London are declining and experts believe this shows London’s luxury property market is insulated from the impact of higher borrowing costs which have slowed the UK housing market this year. A person close to Serum Life Sciences told FT that 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 Serum Institute of India is credited for its role during the Covid pandemic. The vaccine manufacturer produced the Serum Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which was widely used to vaccinate millions of people in India. Adar Poonawalla is the son of Cyrus Poonawalla, the founder of the Serum Institute of India. Adar Poonawalla joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 and became the CEO of Serum Institute with complete control of the day-to-day operations of the company in 2011.