British Knight Ronald Cohen Captures SoHo Condo Castle for $5 M.

The formidable British power-player Sir Ronald Cohen, the daddy of England’s private equity industry and a bosom buddy of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has a hip new SoHo loft.

Sir Ronald, “one of the most powerful men in Britain, who combines discretion with a reputation for ruthlessness,” according to The Sunday Times, and his film-producing third wife, Sharon Harel-Cohen, paid $5 million for a 2,948-square-foot condo at 388 West Broadway, two floors down from modish hotelier Jason Pomeranc.

Their seller is Y. Akin Ongor, a big-time Turkish banker, who is listed in public records as Vinis Holding Corp.

Mr. Cohen happens to originally hail from Cairo, but he’s not a stranger to New York. He reportedly has entertained the Clintons here, and his famously aggressive firm Apax has an office on East 53rd Street.

Maybe his new SoHo loft will help justify his controversial “domiciled” offshore status in Britain, which has excused England’s super-rich from full income tax based on connections to other countries. Taxes aside, he’s become a figure in Anglo tabloids for his king-making Labour fund-raising, and for publicly warning that the gap between rich and poor might incite riots.

But it’s hard to fret over the income gap when you’ve got a new full-floor Manhattan pied-à-terre with three bedrooms and 14 new oversize mahogany windows.

Plus, according to the listing with Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Sule Haskell, the loft’s main room is anchored by a “baronial masonry fireplace,” exposed wood beams and restored cast-iron columns. But: “There’s no doorman, no super—just a building,” Ms. Haskell said.

And, tragically, there’s no view from the bedroom. “It’s facing another brick wall, but it’s sunny!” said the agent. Plus, it’s a voguish wall: She said it belongs to Mr. Pomeranc’s hotel 60 Thompson.