CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), 42-year-old billionaire, Adar Poonawalla, is all set to buy the most expensive house in London – the century-old Aberconway House near Hyde Park – at a whopping ₹1,446 crore. As per media reports, the mansion bagged the title of being the most expensive house in 2023 and will be acquired by Serum Life Sciences, a UK subsidiary of SII, which manufactures the Covishield vaccine. This deal will make Aberconway House the second-most expensive home ever sold in London.

Located in Westminster, on Mayfair’s South Street, Aberconway House, was constructed between 1920 and 1922 for the industrialist Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, in neo-Georgian style. Aberconway House is an imposing mansion of 22,788 sq ft, with an adjoining guest house with ancillary accommodation of 8,651 sq ft. Both properties have access into one of Mayfair’s Secret Gardens.

 

Pune-based SII became the world’s biggest vaccine maker by producing low-cost inoculations for developing nations that other companies wouldn’t. A Bloomberg report says that SII is now looking to tap the rich world’s need for those shots as well, and over the next three years, SII plans to start production of yellow fever and dengue shots for European and American travellers to countries where these diseases are endemic. This would add higher-margin products to the company’s growing suite of immunisations, which include a sub-$4 malaria shot that was recently approved by the WHO.

 

With its Covid-19 shots and plans for a so-called childhood TDAP vaccine that targets a constellation of ailments like whooping cough, SII now looks to expand in more competitive, and potentially more profitable, markets.