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"Sure-fire way to guarantee your privacy", by Catherine Moye, FT.com (Financial Times), March 19, 2005
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"The paradisiacal private island, that utopia of renewal and regeneration, has never held greater allure for discerning billionaires longing to relax while they ponder their latest business strategies.
Some who buy these isolated plots regard them as mere status Symbols. ("They have a lot of money and don't know what to do with it, so they spend it on a rock and build some artificial Xanadu," says Farhad Vladi of Vladi Private Islands, a specialist agency based in Germany). But others - the people Vladi considers to be "true island lovers" - see a preservation opportunity. "They leave the natural setting mostly undisturbed," he explains. "They would work with, rather than cut across it, and would certainly never build anything like ugly swimming pools."
For either type, of course, the goal is to take a holiday in complete seclusion, creating an existence that is as elusive as possible. But private island ownership is also something of a social club; collectors on this level are well known to each other and spend much time admiring one another's assets. "I have spent the last couple of New Years with Richard Branson on his island," says Vladi, who is himself the owner of a large island off New Zealand.
And there is no shortage of people wanting to join the group. Vladi's company has 120 islands in 28 countries available for purchase, and its website, which alludes to their almost talismanic quality with the line "perfect happiness is to be found on the perfect island", has so far attracted more than 30m visitors.
One of his special jewels is the island of Tagomago in the Mediterranean, which lies just off the north-east coast of Ibiza. Currently owned by a German aristocrat, it boasts a 6,000 sq ft villa in 150 acres; its price is available an application.
Vladi acknowledges that even private island purists will want to add some sort of residence, along the lines of Tagomago's villa. However, strict planning laws occasionally make that a complex task. In many cases, governments will not permit any building whatsoever on an island for fear of marring its natural habitat. And that's not to mention all the other essentials necessary for insular living."...
..." "I approach a lot of owners on behalf of others with offers, but very few sell," Vladi says. "It makes the island market very inflexible. One normally has to wait for a death, divorce or ill health before they come on to the market."
Yet with demand from the world's ultra-wealthy continuing to rise, the islands available to buy seem to be sound investments. It is difficult to compare, but prices have gone up sharply in the past 10 years and agents expect the trend to continue as long as the rich crave anonymity, privacy and the cachet of being among a special breed of land owner."...
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