Chennai industrialist buys cinema multiplex for Rs.80 crore

Chennai, May 1 (IANS) Paramasivam Pillai, a city-based industrialist, purchased a landmark cinema multiplex here through public auction for over Rs.80 crore, its auctioneers said Friday.

"With four cinemas and a seating capacity of over 2,300 per show, the Udhayam complex is one of the biggest multiplexes in Asia in the heart of the city. To our knowledge, the property's new owners intend continuing with its present business," a spokesman of Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj told IANS.

"When the whole world is talking of global meltdown affecting real estate business, it is heartening to see that the property was purchased at almost three times of its guideline value of Rs.29 crore," he added.

The auction of the 1.31 acre property was completed Thursday under the supervision of Madras High Court Judge K.P. Sivasubramanian.