World’s Most Expensive Apartment Sold To Mystery Buyer For $221 Million

One Hyde Park, London

On Friday, a mystery buyer snapped up a three-floor penthouse atsought-after London address One Hyde Park for £136m ($221 million), making it the most expensive apartment sale on record. The owner concealed his or her identity by using an offshore company to make the purchase, although he or she is widely believed to be from Ukraine, home to eight billionaires on the Forbes list. The Financial Times reports that a Ukrainian law firm oversaw the transaction. The buyer may remain a mystery as the deal includes a confidentiality clause, says the FT.

At 25,000 square feet, the apartment is the same size as the Silicon Valley mansion Russian internet billionaire Yuri Milner recently bought, although the latter cost only (!) $100 million. The new owner bought thepied-à-terre unfurnished, although the bells and whistles attached to theOne Hyde Park development are impressive. According to the Guardian, the apartment comes equipped with a wine cellar, and thanks to a partnership with the Mandarin Oriental next door, residents are treated as hotel guests and can order room service. Windows are bullet-proof, and security comes courtesy of former British Special Forces officers.

The building was developed by brothers Nick and Christian Candy, known as the kings of London’s luxury real estate scene. The new owner of the penthouse is thought to be engaging Nick Candy’s interior design company Candy & Candy to decorate the property for an additional £60 million, or $97 million.

The mystery Ukrainian buyer will be in the company of at least one billionaire at One Hyde Park. Kazakh mining mogul Vladimir Kim, worth $4.7 billion, owns one of the neighboring apartments.