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Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has defied Brexit gloom and paid £95 million for a Grade II listed Georgian mansion close to Buckingham Palace in central London.

The property overlooks the Mall and St James’s Park, is the most expensive home sold in the UK since 2011. Griffin bought it at a discount of £30 million to its earlier £125 million asking price.

Griffin founded Citadel investment fund in 1990 and manages around US$30 billion of investments, earning up to US$1.7 billion per year.

His new London home includes a pool, staff accommodation and formal private gardens, and was earlier used by the spy agency MI6 to interview potential recruits. It was also the headquarters of General de Gaulle during World War II.

Costly though it is, number 3 Carlton Gardens is by no means Griffin’s most expensive residence. He acquired three floors of 220 Central Park South in New York for US$200 million in 2015 and a row of beachfront properties in Florida for a similar sum.

Griffin is also known for his art collection, which includes multi-million dollar pieces by Willen de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.