Lily Safra Paid $103.4 Million for Giacometti
London-based billionaire Lily Safra is the buyer of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture that fetched a record $103.4 million at a London auction. “It was a freak result,†said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund. “But there are wealthy people out there desperate to buy rare pieces and when something important comes […]
London-based billionaire Lily Safra is the buyer of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture that fetched a record $103.4 million at a London auction.
“It was a freak result,†said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund.
“But there are wealthy people out there desperate to buy rare pieces and when something important comes up with a sensible estimate the bidding goes crazy.â€
Safra is the widow of Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, who passed away in 1999.
According to Forbes’s 2009 listing of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Lily has a net worth of $1 billion.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably in connection with another name, Villa Leopolda.
Safra owns Villa Leopolda that once had a reported price tag of $750 million and was nearly sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
Source: Bloomberg
