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Month: February 2020

Ukraine oligarch buys €200m villa

by: Cassandra Tanti
06/02/2020

Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov has been revealed as the mystery buyer of a historic €200 million villa in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.
Mr. Akhmetov’s holding company SCM Holdings Limited, of which he is the sole proprietor, snapped up Villa Les Cèdres as a long-term investment, the company confirmed in a statement.
The Ukrainian billionaire’s latest purchase exceeds the €162 million he paid for a property in London’s lavish One Hyde Park development in 2011, at the time the UK’s most expensive apartment.
Villa Les Cèdres is a sprawling 19th-century Palladian mansion that was built in 1830 and was once the home of King Leopold II of Belgium. Campari acquired the property in 2016 when it bought Société des Produits Marnier Lapostolle, the maker of the orange liqueur Grand Marnier. The Marnier-Lapostalle family had owned the 14-bedroom home since the 1920s and, during their tenure, created and curated the 35-acre botanical garden that now encompasses the mansion.
Almost immediately after their 2016 acquisition, Campari put the 18,000-square-foot estate up for sale at €350 million, making it the most expensive home for sale in the world at the time. It sold to Mr Akhmetov for nearly half that in 2019, although details about the buyer were only released in January.

Rinat Akhmetov, Wikimedia

As Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarch, Mr Akhmetov is the latest outsider to buy into the “Billionaires’ Penninsula”. The 53-year-old father of two has a net worth of €5.7 billion and heads a business empire that spans mining, energy, telecoms, retail, property and transport, as well as Ukrainian football team Shakhtar Donetsk. It is unclear whether he will use the home as a residence.
“For SCM Holdings Limited, real estate is a key business area for investment in Europe and North America along with mining and metals, energy, media and transportation,” read the company statement.
The son of a coal miner, Akhmetov amassed a vast fortune buying up mining assets during the 1990s privatisation era in Ukraine.
For photos inside the villa, click here.
Top photo source: Savills
 
 

Call for Monaco to get behind annual COCC bike ride

by: Cassandra Tanti
06/02/2020

Monaco’s famous bicycle ride organised by the Champagne and Oysters Cycle Club is gearing up for another successful event in April, but this year they’re looking for more businesses to back the charity ride and in turn support the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.
Established in 2011 as a way for seven friends to lose a few pounds while raising money for charity, the COCC ride has grown into a highly-anticipated annual event bringing together, on average, more than 100 riders each year, including Monaco personalities, celebrities and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Since its inception, the COCC ride has raised around 800,000€ for the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation in support of her swimming programmes across the globe.
This year’s ride kicks off on the morning of Sunday 26th April from Saint Tropez and ends at Stars n’ Bars in Monaco that afternoon. The infamous ‘street party’ follows at Slammers, with food, drinks, and live music.
While the ride generates around 100,000€ per year for the Princesses’ foundation, the organisers would like to raise the bar, so this year they are looking for more Monaco businesses to sponsor the ride.
“The rider’s kits are traditionally sponsored by local businesses who are friends of friends, and some people pay upto 10,000€ to be on the kits,” Damian Crean told Monaco Life. “What we want is to have more established Monaco businesses either sponsor the event itself or make donations directly to the charity.”
Businesses can choose a variety of sponsorship options, from pre and post-event representation to sponsoring the start of the race in Saint Tropez, the end of the race at Stars n’ Bars, or the street party.
“Anyone who sees what the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation does should be willing to help, especially considering there are many wealthy Monaco businesses who could easily donate,” said Mr Crean.
People can still sign up to take part in the event, and Mr Crean is encouraging more women to join the ride. Although, they are advised to do so quickly as training for the 135 kilometre journey should start now.
The 1,000€ entry includes kit, mechanical backup, insurance, brunch at the halfway point at Ma Nolan’s Nice Port, water and energy supplies, and contribution to the charity. Participants only need bring a bike and a sense of humour.
For more details visit: www.coccmonaco.com
 
 
 

Nice Athletics and IM2S sign partnership

by: Stephanie Horsman
06/02/2020

Monaco’s world-class orthopaedic clinic IM2S and Nice Côte d’Azur Athletics (NCAA) have signed a partnership agreement giving priority access to the association’s top athletes.

Signed by Dr Julien Brizi, specialist in Sports Medicine and Traumatology at the Institut Monegasque de Médecine du Sport (IM2S) and President of NCAA Jean Daumas, this exclusive partnership aims to grant the association’s top athletes rapid access to appointments for consultations and examinations, as well as to medical and trauma follow up treatments.

Nice Côte d’Azur Athletics represents a large number of top-ranking athletes who have careers both in France and abroad. The arrangement will solidify cooperative efforts between the two entities, thus strengthening the relationship.

The Institut Monegasque de Médecine du Sport is an osteoarticular and ligamentary surgical clinic known in particular for its expertise in sports medicine and which

brings together over 40 specialists in all osteo-articular pathologies.

 
 

The Sovereign Prince visits Google HQ

by: Stephanie Horsman
05/02/2020

HSH Prince Albert II and a delegation from the Principality visited executives from Google in Mountain View, California on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of collaborative projects protecting the environment.
Google and Monaco are looking at ways to work together to make headway in contributing to the environmental challenges in today’s world.
The meeting revealed some big news for Monaco, notably that Google is offering full access to the Google Play catalogue and services in the not-too-distant future. Google Play is Google’s rebranded Android Market online store for purchasing and downloading apps, music, books, movies and similar content for use on Android-powered smartphones, tablets, Google TV and similar devices, used by over two billion people worldwide.
Monaco’s Chief Digital Officer, Frédéric Genta, welcomed the stepn saying, “We are looking forward to offering Monegasques, residents and businesses the best digital solutions in the world. Access to Google Play’s full catalogue and options has been a longstanding request from both individuals and businesses. I am delighted that, today, we are able to respond positively to this request.”
 
Photo: Kent Walker, member of the Comex Alphabet, alongside H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince – © DR
 
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Interview: Georges Gambarini, Smart City Program Manager

 
 
 

CSM and Riviera university sign new collaboration

by: Cassandra Tanti
05/02/2020

The Monaco Scientific Centre and the Côte d´Azur University have join forces to create an International Associated Laboratory for research and training purposes.
A partnership agreement was signed on Monday 4th February and will see the creation of a new laboratory that will bring together a certain number of teams from the two establishments. Titled ‘Response of organisations and populations to environmental stress’, the laboratory will allow for scientific research, innovation and training and will encourage a collaboration in areas of research attractive to future researchers. It is hoped the collaboration will also lead to findings on the impact of climate change which may lead to societal recommendations.
There are three scientific objectives to the collaboration: to consolidate existing synergies and create new ones, including transdisciplinary ones, in the fields of marine, polar and medical biology, integrating the approach of human and social sciences; to develop, in the context of climate change, programmes to study the impact of environmental changes on organisms, populations and ecosystems by integrating the human dimension into them; and to develop innovative research intended to lead to significant development in the biotechnological and clinical fields.
This is one of a number of relationships that the CSM has developed with the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, which recently became the Côte d’Azur University. In fact, several teacher-researchers of the university have worked with the CSM since the late 1960s, including Professor Raymond Vaissière and Professor Jean Jaubert. The current Scientific Director of the CSM, Professor Denis Allemand, was himself Professor of Animal Biology at the university.
Recently, several research agreements have been established between the two establishments, in particular for the Côte d’Azur University with IRCAN (Institute for Cancer and Aging Research in Nice) and the C3M laboratory (Mediterranean Centre for Molecular Medicine). It involved doctors Gilles Pagès and Jacques Pouysségur, Research Directors at IRCAN, collaborating closely with the Medical Biology teams at the CSM.
 
Photo from left to right: Professor Patrick Rampal, Patrice Cellario, Professor Denis Allemand, Jeanick Brisswalter, and Laurent Stefanini © Direction de la Communication – Michael Alesi
 
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Monaco scientist backs programme to boost women in ocean science

Bill to clarify end of life

by: Stephanie Horsman
05/02/2020

Monaco’s rules for end of life treatment are currently governed by the medical code of ethics, which states that doctors must offer proper palliative care to alleviate suffering whilst holding back on relentless therapies. Now the state is looking to codify the law to make it clear to both patients and doctors.

The end of life problem means taking on a variety pack of social questions ranging from the medical and scientific to the moral, human, and ethical, and is, as of now, dictated by the medical profession’s basic code.  

But the Monegasque National Council is looking at a bill proposed by the Department of Social Affairs and Health that encompasses several provisions and specifically lays out certain concepts, including a declaration that patients can sign when they find themselves in a situation where palliative care will need to be given in the near future.  

Didier Gamerdinger, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, told a press conference on Tuesday that it was to be “a text about life, not death”.

“It will outline the legal framework to support the relationship between the healthcare team and the patient,” said the Minister. Effectively, it takes the moral burden off the medical staff by outlining rules that dictate how best to respect the dignity of the patient whilst allowing doctors to stay within their code of ethics.

©Direction de la Communication / Manuel Vitali

Developed in consultation with the Directorate of Health Action Dr Ciais, the Order of Doctors and the Diocese, the government bill focuses on two concerns – respecting the dignity of the person whose life is coming to a close and to ease their suffering in any possible way. In order to reach this goal, palliative care must be provided in the advanced phases of any fatal condition, whatever the life expectancy, to ease not only physical, but mental stress, which is often underrated.

For Dr. Ciais, who followed 91 patients in his department in 2019, “the text is essentially focused on the patient to take into account their dignity, their quality of life and respect for their choices. It is a daily challenge for patients and for the support and palliative care teams of the CHPG.”

Euthanasia was not even on the table when discussing the terms of the bill. The point is not to hasten the end, but to make it as stress-free and painless as possible, affording each patient the best quality of life given the circumstances.

Circumstances do sometimes dictate use of drugs to reduce the suffering of patients who have serious, irreversible or incurable conditions and deterioration of health is inevitable. This is called palliative sedation and is often used in the terminal phase of a person’s life as a short term measure to create a certain level of comfort during what can sometimes be painful care.  

The declaration is not a pre-emptive measure. It cannot be signed by a healthy person for future use. It is designed for people who are facing the very real situation of imminent demise and is not an obligation.

The bill also provides legal stipulations for organisations who specialise in hospice care to allow volunteers to be present in health care facilities, assisting the medical staff in easing the patients path.

Finally, it makes special provisions for minors, adults under guardianship and people out of state to express their will.

The bill is now being reviewed by the National Council who will examine it before going up for public session.