Richest Kannadiga BR Shetty: All you need to know

NEW DELHI:

BR Shetty

, the richest Kannadiga in the world with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, is in trouble. Shares of his company, Abu Dhabi-based NMC Health, have dropped 70% since mid-December, following allegations that NMC made potential overpayment for assets, inflated cash balances and understated debt.


Here is all you need to know about the billionaire:

*

Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty

resigned on Monday as co-chairman of

NMC Healthcare

after UK regulators said they were looking into NMC following a disclosure that he had misstated the size of his NMC stake.

* Born in 1942 to a humble family in Udupi, Karnataka, Shetty is famously known for owning two floors in the world's tallest structure, Dubai's

Burj Khalifa

. He also owns residential buildings in Dubai,

Abu Dhabi

, London, Perth, Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Udupi.

* Shetty began his career as the vice-chairman of the municipal council.

* India's 42nd richest person in 2019 according to Forbes, Shetty also used to work as a pharma salesman.

* He moved to the UAE in 1973 with a clinical degree in pharmacy.

* Founded New Medical Centre (NMC) in 1975, the first healthcare company from the region to list on the London Stock Exchange in 2012. Shetty has also founded London-listed payments company Finablr and pharmaceutical manufacturer Neo Pharma.

* Shetty also owns healthcare firm BR Life, which has a presence in India, Nepal, Africa and the Gulf.

* Shetty received his Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University, Dubai and has four children. He is married to Chandrakumari Raghuram Shetty, who is the Medical Director of NMC.

* Shetty made an unsuccessful foray into the film-making business in 2017 - a $150 million adaptation of the epic Sanskrit poem the Mahabharata, a story of about 1.8 million words about a power struggle between two branches of a family in ancient India.

* He is the only one among the ten on the TOI Rich List of Kannadigas who has built his fortune outside the country.

* The billionaire also owns a private jet and has a collection of vintage cars.

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