Westporter pays $40m for billionaire's penthouse

A Westport lawyer has paid $40 million for the Manhattan penthouse owned by the late private-equity billionaire Ted Forstman -- 11 percent more than the asking price.

Laure Sudreau-Rippe purchased the co-op apartment at 2 E. 70th St., according to New York City property records. She has been a minority holder in Amsterdam-based Louis Dreyfus Holding BV, one of the world's largest agricultural and trading companies.

The 4,000-square-foot duplex overlooking Central Park was originally marketed for $36 million, according to Meredyth Smith, a broker with Sotheby's International Realty Inc., who represented Forstmann's estate along with Serena Boardman.

The apartment, with a wrap-around balcony on the top floor, got multiple bids, Smith said.

"The buyers in the upper-upper end of the market continue to demonstrate a very strong appetite for these types of trophy properties, so we were not surprised to see a penthouse of this caliber soar over its asking price," she said in an interview. "It would be considered one of the most beautiful apartments in New York, and that's not overstating the case."

Sudreau-Rippe, 41, declined to comment on the deal.

Forstmann, who died Nov. 20 of brain cancer at age 71, was a founding partner of private-equity firm Forstmann Little & Co. In 2004, he bought IMG Worldwide Inc., a New York-based sports- and fashion-marketing company, and became its chairman and chief executive officer.

The 14-story co-op building, also known as 884 Fifth Ave., was completed in 1928 and designed by Rosario Candela, according to property-listings website StreetEasy.com.

Many of its 16 units range from six to 10 rooms and have fireplaces and floor-to-ceiling windows, according to StreetEasy.