Blue Pool Capital, which manages a portion of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founders Joe Tsai and Jack Ma’s fortunes, has purchased a New York penthouse previously owned by Dan Och.
According to New York registry documents, Blue Pool paid $188 million for the 220 Central Park South property. According to the filings, the firm obtained a $71.5 million 30-year mortgage from JPMorgan Chase & Co. for the property on the 73rd floor. A maid’s room on the lower level was included in the purchase.
Outside of office hours, a representative for Hong Kong-based Blue Pool did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The purchase demonstrates how the world’s ultra-wealthy are still drawn to Manhattan real estate, with many taking advantage of low-interest loans to finance their purchases.
Michael Daffey, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive who purchased Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion last year, received a $30.6 million loan from Citigroup Inc. in May. Earlier this year, Israel Englander, a hedge fund manager, obtained a $25.6 million mortgage from Morgan Stanley for an Upper East Side townhouse.
Tsai, Alibaba’s executive vice-chairman, paid $157.5 million for two full-floor condo apartments at 220 Central Park South in two transactions last year. The building, designed by Robert A.M. Stern and developed by Vornado Realty Trust, is located on Billionaire’s Row and has set numerous real estate records. Ken Griffin paid $238 million for a 24,000 square foot (2,200 square meter) penthouse at the building in 2019.
Och paid around $95 million for his apartment in 2019. Och’s spokesman declined to comment on the sale, including the buyer’s identity.
Tsai, a Canadian born in Taiwan, has a net worth of $7.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He left a $700,000-a-year job at an investment firm to join Alibaba on a $50-a-month salary. He quickly began raising funds from investors all over the world, assisting the e-commerce company in becoming the behemoth that it is today.
In 2018, Tsai purchased a 49 percent stake in the Brooklyn Nets basketball team from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
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