Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal said to buy ‘Beverly Hills of Dubai’ home

By Ambereen Choudhury, Damian Shepherd, Ben Stupples and Zainab Fattah

Lakshmi Mittal, among Britain’s richest residents, is the buyer of one of Dubai’s priciest mansions, people familiar with the matter said.

The India-born billionaire snapped up a palatial home in a gated community known as the “Beverly Hills of Dubai,” said the people, who didn’t want to be identified speaking publicly about the purchase, adding the home sold earlier this year.

The Baroque style residence in the Emirates Hills community was listed for about $200 million in 2023 and is lavishly decorated with gold leaf, the selling agent said at the time. It sold for around half of the listing price, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mittal is the executive chairman of steelmaking giant ArcelorMittal SA and has a net worth of more than $23 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

His purchase ranks among the priciest residential sales ever in Dubai, which has lured the uber-wealthy since the coronavirus pandemic and turned into one of the world’s best-performing property markets. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s family has also bought luxury real estate in the city, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Property prices have surged around 70 per cent over the past four years in Dubai and outpaced much of the world. The boom in the city’s luxury market continued into the first quarter this year, with wealthy buyers again driving record sales of homes valued above $10 million.

Mittal, 74, made the purchase as he joins other wealthy individuals exploring residency options outside the UK, spurred by a wave of tax reforms that have made the country a less attractive place for the global elite.

Mittal has been considering leaving the UK in the fallout of the recent tax changes but no final decision has been made yet, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.

Among the measures unsettling the UK’s wealthy residents is the scrapping of its preferential tax regime for non-domiciled residents. Under that system, which dates back to 1799 and ended in April, so-called non-doms could avoid UK taxes on their overseas earnings for as long as 15 years.

Other wealthy individuals who recently did decide to leave the UK include Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and Bart Becht, the former CEO of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, but any move by Mittal to quit the UK would be a particularly high-profile blow for the nation’s business sector as Chancellor Rachel Reeves seeks to revive Britain’s economy.

Mittal’s become a figurehead for Britain’s community of billionaires hailing from overseas since he and his family relocated to the UK more than two decades ago. Along the way, he’s been a focus of parliamentary debates on Britain’s preferential tax regimes for wealthy foreigners after donating to the Labour Party under Tony Blair’s leadership as his government reviewed the UK’s non-dom regime.

The steel firm he founded has also made him a prominent figure in Britain’s strategic infrastructure, though ArcelorMittal warned the British government last year that one of its main divisions may be forced to leave the nation over plans to redevelop a southeast England port.

Mittal’s influence in Britain extends beyond business and politics too. He and his wife, Usha, have imported artworks, jewelry and wines to the UK over the past decade, according to public trade data, which still list the Mittals’ Kensington home as their address. The family has also committed more than £20 million ($26.6 million) in recent years to healthcare and medical causes in the UK through their namesake foundation based in London, where they have an investment firm, LK Advisers, that helps to oversee their fortune from central Mayfair.

A representative for the Mittals said there are no plans to relocate LK Advisers from London.