India’s vaccine king Adar Poonawalla will pay $69,000 a week to live on the same neighbourhood as Winston Churchill once did

• Poonawalla has rented out a mansion in Mayfair, London from Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk.
• His new neighbours would be billionaires from around the world – a Chinese heiress, businessman John Caudwell who owns the phone retail company Phones 4u.
• But there’s more to Mayfair’s history.

Adar Poonawalla is a busy man, after all he’s the man behind Serum Institute of India (SII) -- the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world that has most recently made the Oxford-Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Poonawalla, who belongs to one of India’s richest families, has a new address. Poonawalla has reportedly rented out a mansion in Mayfair, one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Mayfair is in the city of Westminster, which falls within the greater London area. Poonawalla is shelling out $69,000 or just over ₹50 lakh as rent per week for his new house.

Poonawalla is renting the property from Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk. The home is one of the biggest in the district and spreads across 25,000 square feet – which is reportedly as much as 24 average homes, put together, in the UK.

Poonawalla, who is an alumnus of the University of Westminster, has often referred to London as his second home.

The billionaire’s rental in London comes at a time when the city’s real estate is recovering fast after the COVID-19 induced lull. According to real estate consulting firm Knight Frank, the total number of prospective buyers who are looking at over £10 million properties had doubled by January 2021, as compared to the year before.

His new neighbours would be billionaires from around the world – a Chinese heiress, businessman John Caudwell, who owns the phone retail company Phones 4u, among others.

Home to history

Poonawalla’s new Mayfair home also houses historic significance. The area is home to British royalty, dukes and duchesses. In fact, according to reports, of the 227 houses built in the area, hundreds of years ago, 117 belonged to those who had titles.

The area also has some of the most expensive homes in Britain.

Mayfair also houses the first bachelor pad of Britain’s former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It was there that Churchill laid the foundation of his political career and was also the place where he wrote his first book Ian Hamilton’s March.

So, of course, Mayfair properties don’t come cheap. As per Knight Frank, houses in Mayfair was sold for an average of £7.3 million in 2020.

And for Poonawalla this isn’t the first historic or major real estate splurge. Poonawalla, who already owns some of the biggest and luxurious homes in India, had also made news in 2015 when he bought out the Mumbai mansion, which was once the address for the US consulate. He had paid a whopping $113 million for the home.

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