Davide Campari-Milano SpA is getting more than a popular liqueur brand with its acquisition of Grand Marnier Group. The Italian distiller also takes ownership of a historic villa in a French coastal town that’s reputed to have the most expensive residential real estate in the world.
The Marnier-Lapostolle family that controls Grand Marnier has owned Villa les Cedres in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat since the 1920s. The property, surrounded by a 14-hectare (34.6-acre) botanical garden, is on a peninsula that juts into the Mediterranean between Nice and Monaco. The neighbors include Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, OAO Lukoil executive Leonid Fedun, the Ferrero family of Nutella fame and Curt Engelhorn, the great grandson of the founder of German chemical company BASF SE, according to media reports.
