London-based billionaire Lily Safra is the buyer of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture that fetched a record $103.4 million at a London auction.

“It was a freak result,” said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund.

“But there are wealthy people out there desperate to buy rare pieces and when something important comes up with a sensible estimate the bidding goes crazy.”

Safra is the widow of Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, who passed away in 1999.

According to Forbes’s 2009 listing of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Lily has a net worth of $1 billion.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably in connection with another name, Villa Leopolda.

Safra owns Villa Leopolda that once had a reported price tag of $750 million and was nearly sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Source: Bloomberg