A London mansion has been sold for £139 million to a mystery buyer

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A Regent’s Park mansion formerly owned by members of the Saudi royal family that fell into receivership for nearly two years has been sold for £139 million to a mystery buyer in one of the biggest property sales ever in London.

The Holme Hotel, which is located in a four-acre private park within Regent’s Park in central London, has been sold to a UK subsidiary of Zedra, a corporate services and wealth management firm that manages trusts on behalf of various clients, according to the UK. Land records.

The £138.9 million sale competes with billionaire Adar Poonawalla’s nearly £138 million purchase. Aberconway House in Mayfair in 2023 as the second most expensive house ever sold in London.

“This is kind of once in a decade ownership . . . “A small stately home in central London, in its own gardens,” said Rory Scarisbrick, buying agent at Property Vision. “This is not a home for the shy and retiring type.”

UK companies must publicly register their beneficial owners. This requirement has been extended to include foreign companies that own real estate in UKIn order to increase transparency after the comprehensive Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But it’s still there Loopholes in the system Which sparked criticism from transparency advocates and some lawmakers. The individuals behind certain properties can still be hidden through trusts, where information about the ultimate beneficiaries is disclosed to the government but not made public.

Proposing transparency measures in 2023, then Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: “Trusts can be used for perfectly legitimate reasons. But they can also be created using deliberately labyrinthine structures to hide ownership of assets and facilitate the work of corrupt individuals.

The company registered as Holme’s new owner is controlled by Luxembourg-based entity Zedra, according to company records.

The UK government has published new draft regulations that would allow anyone to apply for information about trusts held on a register of overseas landlords – with certain limits, for example, to protect information relating to minors. If approved, the regulations are expected to take effect in August.

Holme Came on the marketIn early 2023, it is seeking a price of up to £250 million after the debt secured on the property expires. It was previously purchased on behalf of Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud and his family in 1991 via a Guernsey-registered company called Quendon Ltd, which later listed five of Prince Khalid’s sons as the beneficial owners.

People familiar with the property said the 207-year-old villa, which is owned under a long lease from the Crown Estate, may require complex and expensive renovations given its heritage status. The Holme Hotel is one of the few private residences within a central London park, and its neighbors include the US Ambassador’s residence at Winfield House.

Public records show that the property was sold in mid-December by Trinity Investments, an Irish company managed by the London-based hedge fund Attestor. The fund is known for its debt strategies, and provided a multi-million pound loan to Quindon secured by the property.

The witness and Zedra declined to comment. Agents Knight Frank and Beauchamp Estates, who were appointed to sell the house, declined to comment.

London’s most expensive house sale, the 45-room mansion at 2-8a Rutland Gate, was secretly agreed just before the Covid-19 pandemic, and involved a British Virgin Islands company purchasing the property for £210m from a registered entity. In Curacao. The Financial Times revealed in 2022 that the buyer was Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan, who was once the richest man in China.