Roman's empire: where Abramovich spends his billions

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The art

Roman Abramovich has been revealed by The Art Newspaper to be the mystery buyer who bought Francis Bacon's Triptych (1976) for $86.3m (£44m) at Sotheby's New York last week, as well as splashing out $33.6m on Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), at Christie's. Both works made auction history, the Bacon achieving the highest price for a postwar work of art and Freud becoming the most expensive living artist at auction, taking the title from Jeff Koons. It is believed the Russian tycoon purchased both works to display at his London home. But his newfound interest seems to be inspired chiefly by his girlfriend, Daria "Dasha" Zhukova, pictured below, who is opening a gallery in Moscow. The Centre for Contemporary Culture Moscow will open in September at a bus depot designed by Konstantin Melnikov, with a retrospective of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. Amy Winehouse is reported to have been offered £1m to perform at the launch.

Roman Abramovich has been revealed as the buyer of this triptych by Francis Bacon which he bought at auction in New York for £43m

The properties

In the eyes of Abramovich, when it comes to homes, be they city pads, rural retreats or seaside getaways, you can never have too many.

The tycoon owns a country estate at Fyning Hill, near Rogate, West Sussex, which he bought for £12m in 1999 from the Australian media magnate Kerry Packer. The 420-acre estate includes a seven-bedroom house, two polo pitches, stables for 100 horses, a tennis court, a rifle range, a trout lake, a go-kart track, an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and a plunge pool. He reportedly ordered in 20,000 grouse and pheasants to indulge his passion for shooting.

In 2004, he was reported to have added the Chateau de la Croë on the French Riviera to his portfolio for £15m. The 12-bedroom villa, on the exclusive Cap d'Antibes between Nice and Cannes, was once the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who held lavish receptions there. Built for an English aristocrat in Victorian style in 1927, the property sits next door to the Villa Eilenroc, built in 1867 by Charles Garnier, the designer of the Paris Opera. Previous owners include the Belgian King Leopold II, Aristotle Onassis and Greta Garbo.

Last month he bought Wildcat Ridge, a mansion near Aspen, Colorado, from Leon Hirsch, former head of the medical firm US Surgical, for $36m (£18m). The 14,300 sq ft house sits in 200 acres of land rising 1,000ft above Snowmass Village.

It was reported last month that Abramovich planned to build the most expensive private residence in Britain, a £150m mansion in Knightsbridge.

The football

In 2003, Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club for £150m and overnight went from being a relative unknown in the UK to one of the most scrutinised men in the country. He is reckoned to have invested some £500m in Chelsea with the aim of making it the number one club in the world by 2014, including building a new, state-of-the-art training headquarters in Surrey. He has made a series of controversial signings such as the Ukrainian striker Andrei Shevchenko, bought from AC Milan in 2006 for a British record of £30m, and Joe Cole, poached from West Ham for £6.6m. In September 2007, the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, whom Abramovich had recruited, quit to be replaced by the former Israel coach Avram Grant. Having missed out on the Premier League title this season, Grant's position is nowlooking weaker.

In 2004, it emerged that Abramovich also had links with the Russian side CSKA Moscow through the oil company Sibneft, in which he had a 73 per cent stake, which struck a three year sponsorship deal with the club.

The toys

The Russian billionaire owns a fleet of yachts, nicknamed "Abramovich's navy". His super-yacht, the 377ft Pelorus, has a staff of 40, a helicopter, helipad and a cinema. Worth £100m, it is usually moored in Malta – Abramovich prefers to keep his boats in the Mediterranean, although he can sometimes be spotted in the Caribbean. His other yachts include the Sussurro and Ecstasea, while in 2006 he gave Le Grand Bleu to a business associate. According to reports, he will soon add the world's largest private yacht to his fleet, the 550ft, £200m Eclipse, which is said to have two helipads, six guest suites, five VIP suites and a 5,000 sq ft owner's cabin, as well as an aquarium, a disco, a spa and a half-indoor, half-outdoor pool.

Abramovich is also reported to own not one but two submarines. His first, a 118ft Seattle 1000, commissioned from the leading manufacturer US Submarines, cost £13m to buy and a further £1m a year to run. With two deck levels, separate living areas for guests and crew, dining rooms and staterooms, the boat is capable of diving to a depth of 1,000ft and can remain submerged for two weeks. He is said to have a second sub on order from US Submarines, a smaller 65ft Nomad 1000, which cost £3m and will dock on the Eclipse.

On land, Abramovich owns a £1m Ferrari FXX racing car, and in the air he has a Boeing 767, known as The Bandit thanks to the design by the cockpit. Originally designed to seat 360 people, it was refitted with a luxury interior, including a two-level bedroom, a lounge, offices and a kitchen and crew area. It also has an anti-missile system.

The businesses

Abramovitch, 41, is estimated by Forbes magazine to have a net worth of $23.5bn (£12bn). Having sold his stake in the Russian oil company Sibneft to the state-owned energy giant Gazprom for $13bn in 2005, he is now the main owner of private investment company Millhouse Capital, which has diverse interests, including a 41.4 per cent stake of Russia's largest steelmaker, Evraz Group, and a 40 per cent stake in the UK mining company Highland Gold, which owns gold deposits in Chukotka, the state of which Abramovich has been governor since 2000 (despite tendering a letter of resignation to Vladimir Putin, which was rejected). The company also invests in real estate, pharmaceuticals and consumer products. Reports that Abramovich recently invested in Neo Vita, Russia's first clinic for the super-rich in Moscow, have been denied.

The others

In March, it was reported that Abramovich had bought the world's biggest drill for $174m (£89m). The machine has a 19m diameter, making it nearly 25 per cent wider than its nearest rival. The purchase immediately sparked speculation that the billionaire wanted to build a tunnel linking Russia and America under the 88km wide Bering Strait, connecting Chukotka, the frozen Russian region of which he is governor, to Alaska and realising Vladimir Putin's vision of a "WorldLink" tunnel.

In a more frivolous vein, Abramovich was reported to have spent more than £200,000 on a 16th birthday party for his daughter, Anna, at the London nightclub Paper, hiring The Klaxons and the Brazilian electro band CSS to provide the entertainment. The 500 guests were treated to a flashing dance floor, a wind machine and alcohol-free cocktails.