India Cements' MD N Srinivasan buys a 10 ground prime property in Chennai

CHENNAI: The posh boat club area in Chennai has reported a big ticket property deal reinforcing its status as the most preferred marquee address of corporate honchos.

India Cements' Vice-Chairman and MD N Srinivasan has acquired a 10 ground (1 ground = 2,400 sq ft) property along with buildings from Sulochana Reddy.

When contacted by ET, Mr Srinivasan confirmed the deal but declined to disclose the transaction value. Sources close to the deal pegged it at 90 crore based on the price of 9 crore per ground.

People familiar with this transaction said Mr Srinivasan has purchased three grounds for his daughter, Rupa Gurunath, who is a whole time director of ICL while 7 grounds has been acquired for a group company.

The premise is rented out to Preeti appliances belonging to Mr T T Varadarajan of TTK family. A couple of months ago, he sold his Preeti brand to Philips. As the property was fetching a nominal rent ( 5,500 per month) and there was a litigation over the rent paid, Sulochana Reddy living in the US wanted to sell it. As it is located close to his existing house, Mr Srinivasan has reportedly struck the deal with her. Registeration of the property is yet to be completed.

In March 2010, TVS group firms clinched a 150 crore deal in the area. TVS Motor India and TVS Investments, subsidiaries of Sundaram Clayton sold a 31.3 ground property in the posh area. It was acquired by four corporate honchosn - Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan, Dwarak Reddy (son-in-law of Apollo Hospitals promoter Dr Prathap Reddy), Rane Group chairman L Ganesh and Gem Granites Group chairman R Veeramani.