In a rags-to-riches story, a Kerala businessman who was once a mechanic, now owns an astonishing 22 apartments in Burj Khalifa tower, the world's tallest building located in Dubai in the UAE.
According to a report in the Khaleej Times, George V. Nereaparambil says he intends to continue buying more if he gets a good bargain.
"If I get a good deal, I'll buy more. I am a dreamer and I never stop dreaming," he told Khaleej Times in Dubai.
Kerala-born Nereaparambil's purchases in the property began when a relative teased him about the Burj Khalifa building, he says.
"A relative of mine jokingly told me see this Burj Khalifa, you cannot enter it," he said.
“Now I own 22 flats in the tower and I will purchase more if I think the deal is good. My friend teased me once saying I cannot enter this prestigious building but I took it as a challenge. For me nothing is impossible,” Nereaparambil told 'Emirates24|7'.
Belonging to a business family in Trichur, Nereaparambil arrived in Sharjah in 1976 and started working as an automobile mechanic.
After seeing a 2010 advertisement in a newspaper about an apartment for rent in the building, Nereaparambil rented the apartment the same day and started living in it.
Now, six years later, owning 22 of the 900 apartments in the 828-metre high building, Nereaparambil said he has rented out five flats, and for the others, he is "waiting for the right tenant".
Nereaparambil set up the GEO Group of Companies in Dubai after realising there was a huge scope for an air conditioning business in the hot climate of the desert, the paper reported.
With a 12 per cent stake, Nereaparambil is also the second-biggest shareholder in Cochin International Airport Ltd., after the Kerala government.
(With IANS inputs)