The Ukrainian billionaire has just bought the most expensive property ever sold in the UK
Age: 44.
Appearance: Evil Adrian Chiles.
I’d say he looks more like a posh Ralph Wiggum. Perhaps.
Or a crushed Louis Walsh. Shall we move on?
Sure. Let me guess: he’s a super-rich billionaire. That’s a tautology.
So’s evil Adrian Chiles. Touche. Yes. He’s a super-rich billionaire. Forbes magazine lists him as the 39th richest person in the world, with a £9bn empire run from headquarters in Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian mining town where Akhmetov was born. Naturally, he now owns the football team. He made his first million trading coal and now runs steel, electricity and media businesses.
Ooh, I’ve got another one! Pointy Chris Huhne. Brilliant. They do indeed look vaguely similar. Can we talk about what he’s done now?
What has he done? He has bought a pair of new flats at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, London. For £136m.
And? And he’s spending another £60m knocking them through into a three-storey penthouse with a private cinema, a 21m swimming pool, saunas and a gym. Treated as one property, the resulting £136m apartment is the most expensive residential UK property ever sold.
Looks like Peter Beardsley’s less talented brother has done all right for himself. That’s enough with the look-alikes now. We don’t want to get in trouble with a billionaire.
Don’t we? That’s not what I signed up for. I’m a serious investigative journalist. No, you’re not. You’re me pressing Ctrl and B and pretending to be an idiot. Now ask me one more question and let’s wrap this up.
Fine. Anything else we ought to know about this Akhmetov guy? Ukrainian journalists have accused him of having links to organised crime. A claim we should definitely, definitely point out he has vigorously denied.
Surely that’s the part that will get us in trouble. Let’s hope not.
Do say: “He looks like a nice man with a forgiving sense of humour.”
Don’t say: “He also looks a bit like a sad owl.”
