Discovery's Gore buys R103m New York pad

Billionaire Adrian Gore spent R103m on a New York apartment initially valued at R130m. He has rented it to Richard Pepler for about R416,000 a month. Image: Discovery.

Less than a year after splashing out R25m for a sea-facing apartment in Cape Town's ultra-exclusive Clifton, the billionaire picked up a three-bedroom luxury pad in New York for R103m in January this year.

The 15th floor New York apartment, which boasts solid white oak and Italian marble floors, three bathrooms and a powder room, had been on the market for nine months before the Discovery Group boss bought it.

The Real Deal, New York's real estate magazine, said the sale was filed with city authorities on 6 January.

Gore also owns a home in Johannesburg's Inanda, another in Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, and a New York penthouse that he bought for about R45.7m in 2011.

After several attempts to contact Gore for comment, his spokesman said the properties were part of the billionaire's investment portfolio. "The robust yield is the sole rationale for the location of these investments," he said.

Gore, 50, who founded Discovery at the age of 28 in 1992, has grown it into a company that provides health and life cover to 4.5m people across China, South Africa, the UK and US.

12th richest South African

The Sunday Times Rich List last year ranked him as the 12th richest South African, with R4.2bn in investments.

The University of the Witwatersrand actuarial science graduate is leasing his latest property to HBO television boss Richard Plepler for US$40,000 (about R416,000) a month, according to the New York Post.

The 270m² apartment, according to US media reports, had originally been priced at about R130m before Gore bought it at a discounted price.

Sales figures provided by Trulia, a US firm that compiles an authoritative property transfer guide, puts the average price for a posh New York apartment at about R12.4m.

Gore's apartment is situated nearby a five-storey, seven-bedroom mansion bought by the South African Consulate for a reported R147m in 2008.

Other South Africans who have bought plush pads in New Yorik include siblings Philip Kirsh and Linda Mirels, the son and daughter of businessman Nathan Kirsh.

According to The Real Deal, two trusts - NY Apt Trust and WF NYC Home Trust - affiliated with the siblings have bought four apartments worth a combined US$56.45m in the 52-storey Trump International Hotel & Tower.

Source: Sunday Times via I-Net Bridge