A Gerhard Richter painting owned by Ron Perelman sold for almost US$28 million Tuesday as the billionaire began offloading more than US$200 million worth of art at auction.

Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild (649-2)” from 1987 sold at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, where it was estimated at US$15.5 million to US$18 million. Christie’s will offer more works from Perelman’s collection at its evening sale of 20th century art in New York later today. The high estimate for the Christie’s offerings, which include paintings by Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, is more than US$180 million.

Art sales are part of a larger divestment by Perelman, who has recently disposed of several companies and put a private jet on the market.

Since July, Perelman has sold more than US$200 million of art from his collection, both privately and at auction. The Revlon Inc. owner will use some of the some proceeds from the sales to pay down loans from Citigroup Inc., people with knowledge of the arrangements have said.

Perelman’s investment company, MacAndrews & Forbes, said in July it was reworking its holdings in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the ravages it caused to American businesses, including his own. The 77-year-old said in a statement last month that the time had come for him “to clean house, simplify and give others the chance to enjoy some of the beautiful things that I’ve acquired just as I have for decades.”

Representatives for Perelman, who is selling anonymously, Christie’s and Sotheby’s declined to comment.

The works have given a major boost to auction houses in what has been a difficult year for the art market. The global pandemic dramatically reduced the volume of sales, canceled live events and upended the decades-old calendar and formats.