Secret buyer behind $16.8 million Sydney mansion revealed

The mysterious buyer who snapped up a 1930s-era Sydney mansion for an eye-watering sum has been revealed.

Macquarie’s head of asset management, Ben Way, has been named as the new owner of the Woollahra property, paying $16.8 million, the Australian Financial Review reports.

Way purchased the home from former Herbert Smith Freehills partner Grant Marjoribanks and Maurice Blackburn class action lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan.

Known as The Redcliffe, the mansion crowns a steep 1,385-square-metre block, shrouded in lush greenery and bordered by a sandstone cliff face.

The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home underwent an extensive designer overhaul by acclaimed interior studio Handelsmann + Khaw.

Inside, Venetian plaster walls, marble detailing and steel-framed windows sit alongside multiple living areas, a formal dining room and a sprawling marble kitchen complete with a butler’s pantry.

Outside, a stone-lined courtyard spills onto a pool terrace carved into the sandstone, offering sweeping valley views.

Sold earlier this year through McGrath’s Will Manning, the grand Wallaroy Road residence traded quietly ahead of auction, with the price withheld at the time.

Way’s multimillion-dollar purchase comes as his pay packet increased from $14.8 million in the 2025 financial year to $24.1 million in 2026, per the AFR.

The banker’s new address on Wallaroy Road has a magnet for Sydney’s business elite, with neighbouring properties owned by the likes of KKR’s David Lang, Perpetual’s Anthony Aboud and Tennis Australia chairman Chris Harrop.

Just down the road, advertising heavyweight Daniel Droga and his wife Lyndell are also offloading one of their eastern suburbs holdings, with hopes of fetching around $20 million.

Click here to read article