Kicking off the new year in record-breaking style, an oceanfront Malibu, Calif. estate has just sold for roughly $75 million in an off-market deal.

A Russian billionaire couple paying all-cash were the buyers, according to people familiar with the deal, though their identities currently remain anonymous.

The seller is Howard Marks, the billionaire money manager behind Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based publicly-traded alternative asset management firm. Never publicly listed for sale, the 9.5-acre spread was quietly shopped around with a lofty $125 million price tag. At an estimated $75 million, the sale breaks local records: it represents the highest price ever paid for a residential property in tony Malibu, eclipsing the $68 million sale of Nancy Daly Riordon’s Carbon Beach mansion in 2008.

Encompassing more than 300 feet of ocean frontage, the Pacific Coast Highway estate is one of Malibu’s largest seaside property parcels.  It includes a 20,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa with eight bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, two guesthouses, a standalone gym, tennis courts and a swimming pool facing out toward the ocean. Completed in 2008, the estate underwent a seven-year renovation overseen by Michael Smith, the high-profile decorator who renovated the White House Oval Office, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Marks and his wife purchased the property for $31 million in 2002, according to public records, from the estate of late Herbalife founder Mark Hughes. The Marks were represented by Fred Bernstein of Westside Estate Agency in the transaction.

The massive record-breaking deal joins the ranks of America’s most expensive home sales. It is Southern California‘s second-highest sale ever, behind billionaire heiress Petra Ecclestone’s $85 million Spelling Manor purchase in Holmby Hills in 2011. Interestingly, the deal is said to have transpired on January 4, mere days after the U.S. went over the fiscal cliff and capital gains taxes rose for the wealthiest Americans — a dynamic many high-rolling home owners had been scrambling to avoid.

Marks, worth $1.4  billion by Forbes’ estimate, has been reshuffling his real estate portfolio on both coasts over the past year. In May, the investing maven shelled out $52.5 million in cash for two uncombined, side-by-side units in New York City’s ultra exclusive co-op building 740 Park Ave.  Totaling 30 rooms including eight bedrooms, 10 baths, two libraries, and formal and informal dining rooms,  it was the most expensive co-op price ever paid in the U.S. at the time.

The couple have also been looking to unload a 4,536-square foot condo at the Ritz Carlton in Manhattan since July. Boasting eight rooms also designed by Smith and views of Central Park, the apartment’s price tag is a lofty $50 million.

Click here to read the full article on www.forbes.com.