Billionaire Chau Chak Wing buys Packer mansion for record $70m

Australian-Chinese tycoon Chau Chak Wing paid a record $70m for James Packer’s Sydney estate, it has emerged.

From the street: the Packer mansion.

Australian-Chinese billionaire Chau Chak Wing has emerged as the buyer of James Packer’s sprawling Sydney estate, La Mer, for around $70m.

The price paid for the Vaucluse mansion is the highest ever for a property in Australia.

The businessman and prominent philanthropist chairs the Kingold Group, a Chinese conglomerate with holdings in property development, media and other investments.

In Australia, Dr Chau is best known for his $20m donation to the University of Technology Sydney that lured international “starchitect” Frank Gehry to design a new wing at the campus.

Dr Chau is based mainly in China, but is an Australian resident and so the purchase will not be subject to the Foreign Investment Review Board. Dr Chau’s wife reportedly lives in a waterfront home in Sydney’s Hunters Hill.

Sitting on the Vaucluse hillside with harbour views, the Packer estate occupies a total landholding of 3300 square metres.

James and Erica Packer paid $18m for the Guilford Bell-designed home in June 2009 and then added another 985sq m to the title in two successive transactions the following year, amounting to $12m.

The couple, with their three children, shared the mansion for just a few months before the two separated in 2013 and subsequently divorced.

The property is part of Ms Packer’s divorce settlement.

The Vaucluse property has six bedrooms, parking for 20 cars and other high-end features including a wellness room, a 20-seat cinema, staff quarters and a sprawling gym and sauna complex.

From the street: the Packer mansion.

On a purchase price of $70m, stamp duty on the transaction is estimated at $4.84m.

The sale, negotiated by Christie’s International agent Ken Jacobs and Sotheby’s agent Michael Pallier, means Sydney reclaims the mantle for Australia’s most expensive home.

For the past six years, Western Australia has boasted the country’s priciest property transaction, after mining entrepreneur Chris Ellison in 2009 paid $57m for the Perth waterfront home of mining heiress Angela Bennett.

Recent Sydney transactions include the $53m sale in 2013 of Point Piper waterfront mansion Altona. There have been new listings such as the Joye family home Barford and the Fairfax family estate Elaine.