World’s Most Expensive Apartment – Rinat Akhmetov

The record-setting purchase of a London 25,000 square foot penthouse for $221 million by Ukraine’s richest man,Rinat Akhmetov according Financial Times.

Akhmetov has been on the FORBES Billionaires List since 2005, but in the past year he boosted his fortune by a whopping $10.8 billion, making him one of the year’s top gainers. He is the 39th richest person in the world on the FORBES 2011 list, tied with John Paulson, and worth more than George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg.His 2011 net worth is $16 billion.

The 44-year-old son of a coal miner made his first million trading coal and coke (of the carbonaceous variety — nothing untoward). He grew his business into System Capital Management, which boasts revenues of over $8 billion and employs 130,000 people. He also runs steelmaker subsidiary Metinvest and DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power and coal producer.

The new owner of the three-floor London penthouse is also a soccer aficionado. He’ll be playing host for the 2012 Euro Cup at his new $400 million stadium in his hometown of Donetsk.