Steel tycoon buys third property on Billionaire's Row

Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man and a prominent Labour Party donor, has bought his third property in London's most expensive street for £70 million.

The steel tycoon, whose fortune is estimated at £27 billion, already owns two large homes in Kensington Palace Gardens, where Princess Diana spent her last years.

It has now emerged that the Mittal family has bought another home on the street - nicknamed "Billionaire's Row" - from the Crown Estate.

The purchase comes just a month after the 58-year-old bought Britain's most expensive home for £117 million. Hedge fund tycoon Noam Gottesman sold him a house on Palace Green, an extension of Kensington Palace Gardens, next to the Israeli embassy.

Before that, a flat in the Candy brothers' One Hyde Park had been the country's priciest home when it sold for £115 million in March.

The £70 million price tag for Mittal's latest property is all the more remarkable as the former Philippine Embassy is in need of modernisation. The 16,250 square feet home is also not the largest in the road but it looks on to Kensington Palace.

Mr Mittal himself lives in a home in Kensington Palace Gardens which he bought for £57 million four years ago and is three times bigger than his latest acquisition.

Noel de Keyzer, a director at Savills which specialises in the top end of the London market, said the tycoon had already raised the value of his main property on the street. He said: "The Mittals have carried substantial improvements to their main home, which is probably the largest private house in central London after Buckingham Palace. I would put its current value at close to £250 million."

Mr Mittal is believed to have offered £200 million for the home on the street owned by Foxtons founder Jon Hunt. That property, which is being enlarged underground, was thought to have been the first choice of home for Mr Mittal's son Aditya.

The 32-year-old finance director for Arcelor Mittal moved to Noam Gottesman's mansion instead, when the estate agent refused his bid. He, his wife Megha and their two daughters, wanted to be closer to his parents.

The latest buy joins Mr Mittal's ever-expanding property portfolio including a £40 million home on The Bishops Avenue in Barnet.

In March 2008, Mittal was named as the world's fourth wealthiest person by Forbes Magazine. His family owns 44 per cent of steel giant Arcelor Mittal. A spokesman for Arcelor Mittal declined to comment.