UAE Leader Buys £65 Million Mansion in London’s Chelsea District

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has bought a mansion in Chelsea، one of London’s most expensive home deals in recent years.

A company tied to the UAE leader spent £65 million ($81.7 million) on the west London mansion in November، according to UK filings. The property was built in the 2000s when a group of businessmen developed three mansions on the site of a former telephone exchange.

One of the world's richest wealth funds

Known as MBZ، the sheikh succeeded his late brother as UAE president and ruler of Abu Dhabi in 2022، which is home to one of the world’s richest wealth funds. The UAE is increasingly seen as a key partner for the UK and other Western governments — as geopolitical tensions with China rise and the war in Ukraine cuts off investment from Russia. 

Abu Dhabi’s media office did not respond to an e-mail and calls requesting comment.

The home is one of just a handful that were sold for more than £50 million in London last year، including a £138 million Mayfair mansion bought by Indian vaccine tycoon Adar Poonawalla. MBZ’s Chelsea property — one of three adjacent four-story mansions — was built with a swimming pool، cinema room، and car lift. In 2023، Chelsea was the most popular neighborhood for £5 million-plus deals in London، making up 12% of these transactions، according to broker Savills Plc.

The high-end property market in the UK capital has been relatively strong even as global central banks have raised interest rates and Britain prepares to toughen its tax rules for rich foreigners. Still، some sellers have had to lower their ambitions when it came to price.

Owning UK's assets

British billionaire Bobby Arora sold a luxury townhouse in Belgravia — a neighboring district to Chelsea — for £23.5 million at the end of last year، at a discount of roughly 30% from the price paid in 2013. In January، sold properties across London’s best districts dipped below 90% of their asking prices for the first time since early 2019، according to researcher LonRes.

MBZ — now in his sixties — was born in the oasis town of Al Ain، shortly after the first discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi and a decade before his father helped to form a nation out of seven sheikhdoms. The UAE’s oil wealth and rapid development since the 1990s made it the Arab world’s second-largest economy after Saudi Arabia، helping to shape the country into the Middle East’s business and tourism hub. 

The UAE’s leaders and wealth funds are linked to UK assets ranging from Manchester City Football Club to biotech startups. However، the British government’s resistance to a UAE-backed bid to buy the Telegraph newspaper could risk souring the trading relationship between the two countries، British figures with links to the Middle East have said.