The home purchased by Ahuja is one of only a handful that changed hands for more than £20 million this year. - Image: Bloomberg
LONDON: An Indian tycoon behind an apparel empire has just paid £21 million (US$27 million) for a home in London’s Notting Hill district, marking one of this year’s biggest UK residential deals that defied a wider slowdown in luxury sales.
Harish Ahuja, who owns and runs Shahi Exports Pvt., bought the eight-story residential convent in July, according to a UK filing.
His son Anand Ahuja and daughter-in-law Sonam Kapoor - a Bollywood star - plan to use part of the sprawling property as the couple’s home following redevelopment, while a separate section of the building is likely to be converted into flats, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing the family’s plans.
The property offering more than 20,000 square feet of space is a short walk from Kensington Gardens and was previously owned by a UK-registered charity and religious order, according to a brochure seen by Bloomberg News.
The media team at Shahi Exports and the firm’s company secretary didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
The home purchased by Ahuja is one of only a handful that changed hands for more than £20 million this year, including a £27 million Mayfair mansion sold at a 33% discount by art collector-oil tycoon couple Fatima and Eskandar Maleki.
However, the share of prime central London homes purchased by Indians rose 3% between 2019 and 2023, the most in that period for any single nationality, according to data from broker Hamptons International.
Earlier this month, separate Indian buyers snapped up apartments in Mayfair for £7.85 million and £9.15 million.
The first one once belonged to Countess Raine Spencer, the stepmother of the late Princess Diana.
Peter Wetherell, the broker involved in the deals, expects more Indian buyers in London due to rising wealth in the Asian nation and a desire to spread real estate assets across the globe.
There have been big-ticket deals involving Indian billionaires as well in the recent past. Last summer, Ravi Ruia bought a £113 million mansion overlooking Regent’s Park.
A few months later, Indian vaccine tycoon Adar Poonawalla agreed to pay about £138 million for a Mayfair mansion he was renting from Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk - the most expensive UK home deal in 2023.
But lately the high-end property market in the UK capital has been under pressure from a looming overhaul of Britain’s "non-doms” rules, which are poised to abolish preferential tax treatment for wealthy foreigners.
Deals priced at £5 million or higher slumped 19% in July from a year earlier, according to researcher LonRes, marking a worsening decline.
The West London district of Notting Hill - made famous by the eponymous 1999 Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant blockbuster romantic comedy - has been popular with international buyers this year despite a tough market.
In July, an American buyer purchased a house in the neighborhood for £32 million, relocating his family to expand his business in the UK.
The senior Ahuja built his fortune through Shahi Exports, which a local unit of Fitch Ratings says supplies to international brands including Uniqlo, Decathlon and H&M.
The company operates more than 50 factories and employs over 100,000 people, according to its website.
Ahuja’s son, Anand, is a director at Shahi Exports and also runs his own retail company.
Kapoor is best known for her roles in Bollywood films including Neerja, a movie based on an Indian flight attendant who died trying to save passengers and crew during an attempted hijacking of a Pan Am flight in 1986. - Bloomberg
[--With assistance from Advait Palepu]
