Natural gas billionaire Michael S. Smith is the secret buyer of a record-breaking $110 million Hamptons property in an off-market deal, Page Six has exclusively learned.
Smith, who is chairman and CEO of Freeport LNG Development, is about to close on three Lily Pond Lane properties sold by hedge funder Scott Bommer of SAB Capital. It is the second-most expensive purchase in the Hamptons — the first was activist-investor Barry Rosenstein’s $147 million purchase of an 18-acre East Hampton property.
The Lily Pond Lane sale will be the fifth-most expensive residential purchase in the country. Bommer bought the properties at 93 Lily Pond Lane, 101 Lily Pond Lane and 97 Lily Pond Lane for $93.9 million in 2014. The parcel includes a 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom home, built in 1914 in the traditional Hamptons shingled style. The three properties, including 284 feet of oceanfront, are on 6.4 acres.
The sale comes on the heels of Bommer’s decision to give back most of his investors’ money after a 17-year run so he can focus on investing his own wealth. Bommer had $1.1 billion in assets at the end of 2014.
Smith — whose rep declined to comment Sunday night — beat billionaire hedge funder David Tepper to the purchase, according to sources. Tepper had offered $95 million, but was concerned about local laws that would hinder the buyer’s ability to tear down the home — which has been described as “mob-style” — on the property. Tepper made news in 2011 for buying a $43.5 million Hamptons beach house that belonged to his ex-Goldman Sachs boss, Jon Corzine, and then demolishing it to build something bigger.
Smith has hit the headlines before for spending big on his daughter Kaily Smith’s wedding last year. Usher and Stevie Wonder performed at what was described as “one of the most baller wedding parties of all time,” which also included a huge Ferris wheel at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, Calif.
We can’t wait to hear about the parties he’ll throw in the Hamptons.