According to a report by The Financial Times, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla just acquired a grandiose mansion in London worth around £138 million from Poland’s wealthiest businesswoman, Dominika Kulczyk.  

The report explains that the Poonawalla family agreed on a deal for the 25,000 square-foot Aberconway House located close to Hyde Park named in what is believed to be the most expensive house sale of 2023 in London. According to luxury property agents quoted by The Financial Times mentioned on its Instagram page, the price tag of the Aberconway House makes it the second-most expensive home ever sold in the British capital. 

The impressive property is to be acquired by SII’s UK subsidiary Serum Life Sciences (SLC). According to sources quoted by The Financial Times, although the Poonawalla family does not plan to relocate to the UK, the giant mansion would “serve as a base for the company and family when they are in the UK”.

This massive transaction follows several multi-million-pound investments made by the Indian family in vaccine research and manufacturing facilities on British soil. In 2021, Adar Poonawalla’s wife Natasha – who happens to be Chair of SLC – announced the establishment of a Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building powered by a £50 million funding commitment in the framework of a partnership with the University of Oxford. 

Dominika Kulczyk purchased the house in the luxurious Knightsbridge district of London through housing developer Mike Spink, who became famous in 2019 when he sold a historic mansion near Buckingham Palace to billionaire Ken Griffin.

The Polish businesswoman is the daughter of the late businessman Jan Kulczyk, who was Poland’s wealthiest man. Her net worth is estimated by Forbes at PLN 7 billion (£1.4 billion). She is the largest shareholder of Poland’s largest private energy group, Polenergia and the head of the Kulczyk Foundation. 

Image: Caroline Byczynski

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen