'Mittal buying London's costliest house for son'
London, May 23, 2008 (IANS)

A London mansion that is about to be sold for a record £117 million ($230 million) may go to the son of Indian billionaire Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, newspapers here said. The property on Palace Green - one of the most expensive houses in the world - is close to Kensington Palace Gardens, where steel tycoon Mittal lives. His son Aditya, 32, has been searching for a London property near Mittal's house, which the steel maker bought for £57 million from Formula One chief Bernie Eccleston in 2004.

Now the search may be finally over: Noam Gottesman, an American-born hedge fund mogul, is close to exchanging contracts on the house, the Times newspaper reported. The price works out at more than £8,000 per square foot and smashes the previous record of £80 million for a London home, set only three months ago for a property in nearby Upper Phillimore Gardens.

The newspaper quoted "property sources" as saying the family of L.N. Mittal, Britain's richest man, had made an approach for the house, which is next door to the Israeli Embassy. Another paper said the house was being bought by Mittal for his son.

Stephen Holmes of the London property agents Savills said: "That address is very exclusive and I'm not surprised by the figure. There are only about 20 properties with that view of Kensington Palace, and people queue up to get their hands on one."

Gottesman has a fortune of 460 million pounds, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, while Mittal, who owns the world's biggest steel company ArcelorMittal, is worth about 27.7 billion pounds.

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