One of Pakistan’s wealthiest couples is selling their Four Seasons condo

It has long been rumoured that Toronto’s most expensive condo towers are magnets for foreign investment, but a lack of data makes it difficult to determine the extent to which that’s true. Here’s one definite example of the phenomenon, on the 32nd floor of one of the city’s most luxurious residences.

Late last week, suite 3203 in the west tower of the Four Seasons Private Residences, on Yorkville Avenue, was listed for $4.15 million. The sellers of the two-bedroom, 2,450-square-foot suite are Iqbal and Ronak Lakhani, a husband and wife who rank among the wealthiest people in Pakistan.

Iqbal is the chairman of Lakson Group, a Pakistani conglomerate with interests in foodservice, media, IT outsourcing, medical supplies, insurance, textiles, 3D animation, and paper manufacturing. Lakson operates McDonalds restaurants, prints newspapers and provides high-speed internet. It even used to manufacture cigarettes before it sold much of its tobacco business to Philip Morris. The exact size of the Lakhanis’ fortune is unclear, but the company’s paper mill alone did almost $165 million in net sales last year. Ronak is known as a philanthropist. She sits on the Special Olympics board of directors.

The Lakhanis closed on suite 3203 in February 2013, for $2,666,896—but their agent, Nissan Michael, says they bought the unit several years prior to that, pre-construction, which would account for the seemingly large disparity between what they originally paid and their current asking price. (A 56 per cent price increase would be crazy for three years in Toronto’s luxury condo market, but less crazy for seven or eight.) Michael says the Lakhanis never actually lived in the condo; instead, they rented it out for as much as $13,000 a month.

Here’s a view of the living and kitchen area:

Just imagine it with furniture:

The bathrooms are decked out with marble:

The unit comes with plenty of amenities, like valet parking, 24-hour concierge service, in-suite elevator access and room-service dining. The luxurious extras come at a cost: $2,768 in monthly maintenance fees, which works out to more than a dollar per square foot.