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PHOTOS: At R15.6bn, world’s most expensive house now on sale

Johannesburg - The Villa Les Cedres mansion in France is going for $1.1bn (R15.62bn), and potential buyers from the Middle East and North America are already lining up for it.

The property, situated on the South of France's Cote d'Azur near Nice, is currently owned by the Campari Group. Former owners and guests include Belgian King Leopold II, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Taylor, according to CNBC.

It has ten bedrooms, a 50-metre swimming pool and a 14.164 hectare botanical park containing 15 000 plants and nearly 20 greenhouses with rare tropical flora, reported rt.com. CNBC said the garden is regarded as a national heritage site by the French government. The house also features stables for up to 30 horses as well as a ballroom and a chapel.

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"The Cote d'Azur has the most international buyers," Simon Smallwood, joint MD of mortgage broker International Private Finance, told CNBC.

The most active buyers of the mansion built in 1870 were Russian and Eastern European, he said, but interest has fizzled out with geopolitical tensions on the rise.

The makers of the cognac Grand Manier, the Marnier-Lapostolle family, acquired the property in the 1920s. When Campari bought Grand Marnier for $760m in March this year, the property was transferred to the company. According to CNBC, Campari has decided to sell the property and divide the profits among its shareholders.

Steep price tag

The villa is the world's most expensive residential property to ever go on sale. Previously, Campari CEO Bob Kunze Concewitz told Bloomberg that the mansion would sell for a minimum of $330m (R4.7bn).

The Chateau Louis XIV, a chateau constructed between 2008 and 2011 and located outside Paris in the commune of Louveciennes, is currently the most expensive piece of residential real estate. It sold for €275m (R4.4bn) in December 2015.

Take me back to Nice... this place was amazing!!! #nice #france #luxury #5star #wow #amazingplaces #barryplant

A photo posted by aise dillon photography (@aisedillonphotography) on

Villa Les Cedres... that view! #villalescedres #thatview

A photo posted by aise dillon photography (@aisedillonphotography) on

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