Meet BR Shetty, the business tycoon who owns 2 floors in Burj Khalifa

New Delhi, Nov 4: Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, better known as B R Shetty, owns all the apartments on the 100th and 140th floors of Dubai's iconic Burj Khalifa, which he reportedly acquired for a whooping sum of $25 million.Shetty, the managing director and CEO of Abu Dhabi's first multi-speciality healthcare facility, New Medical Centre (NMC), is a big time investor in Dubai's real estate market.A well known face in the Dubai's real estate and pharmaceutical world, Shetty said his purpose of buying the two apartments was to host parties and he had no interest in selling Burj Khalifa apartments. “I don't live [there], I have some parties; that's how we use it now. My office is on the 41 floor. I have a house on the Palm [Jumeirah] and in Abu Dhabi,” he had said. According to him, there was no better address than ‘BR Shetty, 100, Burj Khalifa, Dubai'. “I wanted to be a part of this iconic development, the world's tallest building," he had said earlier.“I waited to buy the property for five hours in a queue and found that all except the 100th floor was sold out. I immediately bought this entire floor because, I believe, it is a prestigious address," he had said.Unveiled at the height of Dubai's property boom, Burj Khalifa, Dubai is the world's tallest tower, which was inaugurated in January 2010. Developer Emaar sold 90 per cent of the tower's 900 apartments ahead of its launch. The 828m-tall Burj Khalifa also includes 144 Armani-branded residences, 37 floors of office space and the 160-room Armani Hotel.Apart from investing in real estate market in India and UAE, Shetty also owns, NMC Healthcare, which is a leading health care services group in the Gulf region.Born in a Bunt family to Shambhu Shetty and Koosamma Shetty, he hails from the Bavaguthu clan who were among the biggest landlords in Kaup, Udupi district, Karnataka, India. A trained pharmacist, Shetty arrived in the UAE in 1973. After recognizing tremendous opportunities in the country's healthcare sector, he opened his first pharmacy in 1975. He then established the New Medical Centre, which also included a dedicated dental department, in 1977. Over the years, the group witnessed steady growth and in 2003, it became the largest hospital chain in the UAE following the acquisition of the National Hospital in Abu Dhabi. Today, it treats more than one million patients a year.Besides hospitals and clinics, the NMC Group has business interests in financial services, trading in pharmaceuticals, education and advertising.A passionate cricket fan, he's former president of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council. He is also the founder of founder and patron of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association in the emirates, and a member of the Advisory Board (Financial Sector), Economic Department, Government of Dubai, UAE and the Pharmaceutical Committee, Dubai.