Egyptian billionaire ID’d as buyer of $24M home in Trousdale Estates

What do you get if you’re Egypt’s richest man? Buy a $24 million home in Beverly Hills’ Trousdale Estates.

Nassef Sawiris, the billionaire construction mogul from the Land of the Pharaohs, was identified as the mystery buyer who paid $24.1 million for a hilltop home at 440 Trousdale Place, Dirt.com reported. 

He bought the 7,000-square-foot home on three-quarters of an acre last February, but wasn’t identified as the buyer until now.

The modernist five-bedroom, six-bathroom home was built in 1969, then underwent ”unfortunate renovations that left it looking like a vaguely Greco-Roman take on modernism,” according to Dirt, with dozens of white columns around the home.

In 2009, Edward “Eddie” Israel, a veteran developer and landlord of apartments and condos, paid $5.1 million for the bedraggled house. He enlisted architect William Hefner to redesign the estate.

The Trousdale home was taken down to the studs and expanded, taking years to be completed in 2012. The result: Soaring ceilings, walls of glass and blonde hardwood floors throughout.

In 2017, it made the cover of “Trousdale Estates: Midcentury to Modern in Beverly Hills,” a now out-of-print book by Steven Price. A hardcover edition now sells for $1,000. 

The white, single-story home sits on the edge of one of the city’s highest ridges, with views from Century City to Catalina Island.

Inside, its five bedrooms have full baths and are joined by a gym, a wood-paneled office and an open living room and dining area with a gourmet kitchen and wet bar.

Out front, there are walls and dual driveway gates. A large motor court leads to a two-car carport.

Out back, an infinity-edged swimming pool vanishes into the property’s panoramic views.

The listing, held by Drew Fenton, formerly of Hilton & Hyland and now with Carolwood, called the Sawiris house “a showplace adjacent to some of the most important estates in the city.”

Next door lies a two-house compound owned by French billionaire Bernard Arnault, considered the world’s richest man with $190 billion, according to Forbes.

Sawiris now divides his time between palatial homes in London, New York and Egypt, but the billionaire jet-setter had never owned a Los Angeles home until now.

Born and raised in Cairo, Sawiris is the youngest of three sons born to Onsi Sawiris, the late business mogul who built the Orascom Group into a worldwide conglomerate, with interests in construction, tourism, hospitality, tech and media. He’s now worth $6.9 billion, according to Forbes.

— Dana Bartholomew

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