GLG star sells 90 mln stg mansion ahead of divorce-source
LONDON |
(Reuters) - Star hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange has sold his mansion on London's so-called "billionaires' row" for 90 million pounds ($146 million) ahead of what could be one of Britain's biggest divorce settlements, a source familiar with the matter said.
The long-haired Belgian, who bought the property in London's exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens for 19 million pounds in 2004, has sold it to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, the source added.
The sale comes after the 49-year-old GLG star and his wife Catherine, a big donor to the Conservative party, filed for divorce.
Lagrange, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader and backer of the comic book-based action film "Kick Ass", which was released last year, was ranked 236th in this year's Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of 331 million pounds.
Along with GLG co-CEOs Emmanuel Roman and Noam Gottesman, Lagrange bagged $500 million in Man Group Plc shares through the acquisition last year of GLG by Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund manager.
However, this was well below the value of their holdings at GLG's flotation in 2007, when the company was valued at $3.4 billion and they received $1 billion in cash between them.
A Man Group spokesman confirmed Lagrange and his wife had filed for divorce, adding it was "a private matter".
($1 = 0.617 British Pounds)
(Editing by Sinead Cruise and David Holmes)
Pierre Lagrange, a hedge fund manager worth an estimated £331 million, left his wife Catherine and three children before starting a relationship Roubi L’Roubi, a Mayfair-based haute couture designer whose commissions include creating vestments for clergy at St Paul’s Cathedral.
His estranged wife, who has donated £150,000 to the Conservative Party, is thought to be in line for a settlement of more than £160 million after the couple filed divorce papers in the family division of the High Court last month.
Mr Lagrange sold his £90 million home in Kensington Palace Gardens to Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, ahead of the hearing.
The 49-year-old Belgian-born financier co-founded the GLG hedge fund operation, criticised for short-selling shares in the stricken Bradford & Bingley bank at the height of the financial crisis.
The former Goldman Sachs trader also made millions by investing with Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Gary Lineker in a fund that financed the 3D film Avatar.
He is thought to have separated from his wife about a year ago. Some time afterwards, he started a relationship with Mr L’Roubi, 42, whose designs are worn by celebrities such as Claire Rutter, the soprano, and Wilnelia Forsyth, the wife of the Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth and a former Miss World.
The British-born designer, whose parents are Somalian, is an opera enthusiast and is also said to enjoy hosting evenings of baroque music and champagne.
His website lists ecclesiastical design commissions for clergy at St Paul’s Cathedral, evening wear for orchestras, and sporting wear for the gunmaker Holland & Holland.
Mr Lagrange became a director of Mr L’Roubi’s company, Asked For Designs, in April and the pair were photographed arm in arm at this summer’s Venice Biennale.
Mr L’Roubi confirmed at the weekend that they are a couple. Mr Lagrange said: “I only met Roubi long after our divorce decision. My relationship with him is indeed of a romantic nature. My divorce reflects the reality of a separation that has happened a long time ago. Our divorce has been the most amicable one, with love and respect from all parties.”
But experts said the former banker could have to pay his wife up to half of his fortune in what would be one of Britain’s largest divorce settlements.
The record was set in July by the former wife of the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, 64, whose payout was estimated at £220 million.
The Lagranges’ links to the Conservative Party caused embarrassment for David Cameron after GLG was forced to declare that it had been “short-selling” shares in Bradford & Bingley.
The practice was blamed for the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the near failure of HBOS and Merrill Lynch. It emerged months later that Mrs Lagrange had given £50,000 to the party and her husband was a member of the Leader’s Group, a donors’ club which had access to the leader of the opposition.
Mrs Lagrange gave another £100,000 to the Tories before the election. Mr Lagrange bought the house in Kensington Palace Gardens for £19 million in 2004.
He sold the grade-II listed property for a profit of £71 million after renovation work that included an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
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