Chelsea FC’s Roman Abramovich buys Israel estate for record $64.5m

Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich has reportedly bought an estate in Israel worth $64.5 million, a record high real estate sale in the country, Globes reported, citing a “source close to the deal”.

According to the report, the Herzliya estate is comprised of four lots covering 9.5 dunams (2.37 acres) and two buildings which have been merged as one property.

The mansion was officially purchased by Abramovich in late January, just before the coronavirus outbreak. The Russian-Israeli billionaire had rented the property last year with the option to buy the estate, according to the Times of Israel.

Part the plot was previously owned by British hedge fund manager and co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, Alan Howard, who bought the site for $9 million in 2006.

The Globes report says the property, which was on sale for two years, prior to Abramovich’s purchase, priced at $100 million, includes a tennis court; a swimming pool with a hydraulic platform and a basement workstation space large enough for ten computers.

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The Herzliya estate is the third property the Russian-Israeli billionaire has purchased in the country in recent years. In 2015, Abramovich bought a boutique hotel, while in 2019 he purchased a five-floor office space in Tel Aviv.

With the new purchase Abramovich becomes one of “a select club of people who have paid over NIS 100 million [$28,000,000] for a home in Israel”, the report reads.

Abramovich became an Israeli citizen in 2018 after running into trouble renewing his tier 1 visa for the UK amid heightened tensions between London and Moscow over the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury.

According to a report by the Guardian in May 2018, the British government could have required sensitive information regarding the source of Abramovich’s wealth in order to renew his visa.

As a new Israeli citizen, however, Abramovich is exempt from taxes on income earned abroad and is not required to declare the sources of that income for ten years, the Times of Israel reported.

According to Forbes, as of today, Abramovich’s net worth is $12.3 billion, making him the richest man in Israel.

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