Banker's bargain: £22m knocked off house price

Raffaele Mincione, who was once engaged to Heather Mills, paid less than half the original price for the newly refurbished house off Sloane Street last month.

The property had been on the market for £40 million for 18 months before its price was slashed this year.

Speaking at his house, Mr Mincione, who had been renting in London for five years, confirmed the purchase but when asked if he felt it was a bargain, he replied: "There's no bargain. In a very uncertain time, there is no bargain."

Noel De Keyzer, a director at Savills in Sloane Avenue who was not involved in the sale, said it had been the talk of all top London agents for weeks.

"This reduction of £22 million is the biggest property bargain I have ever come across in my career," he told the Standard.

"The developer rejected offers at around £33 million to £34 million.

"Then came the collapse of Lehman Brothers and everything changed."

Mr De Keyzer believes that one reason why the house had proved difficult to sell was that it was too "stylised".

"It looked like it had been designed for a magazine, not for real people," he said.

"It was so contemporary in design and finish that it resulted in a very cold and sterile interior, and looked rather like a boutique shop in Sloane Street rather than a cosy home. That would put off certain buyers, especially those with families."

Another problem was that the house was never advertised, and the vendor was very strict as to how he vetted people allowed to view it.

"The developer took the view that if he openly marketed the house, he would never achieve a premium price from some rich Russian oligarch who craved privacy, anonymity and discretion. As a result he probably never gave the house proper exposure to the market place."

Mr Mincione was a City bond dealer with the Industrial Bank of Japan when he first made headlines as the fiancé of Heather Mills, the model who would later marry and divorce Sir Paul
McCartney.

He was reported to be standing alongside Mills when a police motorbike hit her in Kensington in 1993. Soon after doctors amputated one of her legs. She broke off the engagement after she was discharged from hospital, 20 days before they were due to get married.

The Knightsbridge sale is the subject of a strict confidentiality agreements and the developer refused to confirm or deny it.