Ex-AMP director sells award-winning Mosman trophy home for almost $30m

Former AMP director Trevor Matthews and his wife Michele have sold their prized trophy home in Mosman for almost $30 million.

Matthews, who recently stepped down as chair of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, and his wife commissioned a complete redesign of the house by Robert Grubb and MacCormick & Associates, with Volker Klemm-designed gardens, some years after they purchased it from the Morgan family for $5.8 million in 2004.

Yoorana was built by master builder F.S. Hough, and the home won the 2015 Master Builders Association award for excellence in housing and pools.

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom house is located in the prestigious dress circle of the blue-chip suburb, overlooking Balmoral Beach and a mere stroll away from it. It was last guided at $27.5 million-$29.5 million and was marked as sold online this week.

The exclusive address is set on a 911-square-metre parcel of land and the three-storey home has heated stone floors, a gas-heated mineral swimming pool, a temperature-controlled cellar and gym.

While the buyer’s details will emerge upon settlement, word on the streets of Mosman is pointing to Prashant Murthy, chief financial and commercial officer at AirTrunk. The data centre company was bought by Blackstone in a $24 billion deal last year.

AirTrunk’s founder and chief executive Robin Khuda is a nearby neighbour after paying $10 million for the Luigi Rosselli-designed home across the road in 2020. But it doesn’t appear that he lives there anyway, with the home rented out for $6250 since last year, records show.

The home was sold through Nic Yates and Kingsley Yates of The Agency North, who declined to comment.

Mining the market

In Vaucluse, Dover Castle Metals’ Ben Mayo and his wife Catherine’s stunning home with harbour-to-city views has hit the market with a price guide of $20.25 million.

Before joining the mining company as chief executive and managing director, Mayo founded and led Vie Capital, a legal funding solutions company. He was also involved in the family business Mayo Hardware, which is a global supplier to trade, government and commercial markets with clients such as BHP and Rio Tinto.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom family manor, which is under Catherine’s name, is set on 1032 square metres in a dress-circle address that is not far from the yachting playground of Rose Bay and its surrounding prestigious schools.

Claremont has had a transformation since the Mayos purchased the home in 2014 for $5 million. The YG + Partners redesign was in collaboration with Georgie Walker Interiors. Walker is known for her mix of Hamptons style and New York sophistication.

The home features a Calacatta marble kitchen with a Wolf range cooker and a butler’s pantry, and American oak floors throughout. There is underfloor heating in the bathrooms and a cabana alongside the swimming pool, a five-car lock-up garage and a speakeasy-style sandstone wine cellar to boot.

It is scheduled to go under the hammer on Saturday, March 22. It is being sold through Alex Phillips of PPD Real Estate.

Glow up in Bellevue Hill

The sold sticker went up on the stunning Bellevue Hill home of supplement king and queen Kieran and Anna Lahey of Vida Glow.

While the price and buyer remain unknown, buyers were initially being guided $18 million and then $19 million for the four-bedroom, four-bathroom and four-car garage property. It sold for circa $20 million, local sources said.

The glamorous pad has had a total reinvention since the Laheys, who are co-founders of their company, purchased the property in 2019 for $8.37 million from Mercury Capital head Clark Perkins and his wife Marguerite.

The main spaces have had all their finishes and fittings updated with a more luxurious modern look. The kitchen has been decked out with a Calacatta marble island bench and has top-of-the-range appliances, including a Liebherr fridge and freezer.

It was a decent step up the property ladder for the wellness entrepreneurs, whose registered address had been the two-bedroom spread in Darlinghurst that Kieran bought two years ago for $1.84 million.

The home sold through Gavin Rubinstein and Evan Cheung of TRG, who did not return phone calls.

Staying in the suburb, the long-time family home of UNSW associate professor in the school of clinical medicine Leon Abraham Simons and his wife Judith has sold around its $13 million price guide.

Breathtaking views of the city skyline can be seen from the tightly held five-bedroom, three-bathroom residence. Set on 755 square metres of land, the couple purchased the property in 1978 for $150,000 from medical practitioners Thomas and Laurel Saywell.

A caveat lodged by clothing accessories supplier Michael Greenfield, who already resides within the suburb, has revealed him as the buyer of the property.

It sold through Elliott Placks of Ray White Double Bay, who could not be reached.