LONDON.- A British newspaper reported that an Indian steel tycoon paid $128 million for a mansion in the British capital, breaking the world record for the most expensive house purchase. Billionaire Indian-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal is the new owner of the 12-bedroom property in Kensington Palace Gardens. Mittal has been named by Forbes magazine as one of the richest people in the world. Previously the house was owned by Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One car racing, who renovated it during the 1990’s.

Iranian-born art collector and financier David Khalili, who was in charge of the new designs included in it Turkish baths, a ballroom,  an oak-paneled picture gallery and an jeweled basement pool, garage space for 20 cars and many of the floors and pillars are said to be made of marble imported from the quarry used to construct the Taj Mahal. Security is controlled by 65 state-of-the-art CCTV cameras in the Palace that one was the former Egyptian Embassy and a one-time annex of the Russian Embassy.

The Sunday Times said the sale of the property near Kensington Palace, the former home of Princess Diana, broke the record for the world’s most expensive house sale. It said the previous record was set in Hong Kong in 1997 when a property sold for $101.6 million. A property which sold for £62.7m in Hong Kong in 1997, previously held the Guinness Book of Records title for the world’s most expensive house. 

Mittal, 53, owns the LNM Group, one of the world’s biggest steelmaking companies, and is based in Britain. In February, Forbes magazine ranked him 62nd in its list of the globe’s richest billionaires with a fortune worth $6.2 billion. Mr. Mittal already has a £9m home in London.