India, Sept. 15 -- Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, has expanded his global property portfolio with the acquisition of a premium real estate asset in New York City's Tribeca neighbourhood. The Reliance Industries chairman paid $17.4 million (around Rs.153 crore) for a vacant building at 11 Hubert Street, a site that has attracted interest from some of the world's wealthiest entrepreneurs. The deal also shines a spotlight on the seller: Robert Pera, a little-known but highly influential billionaire who once worked at Apple before building his own fortune.

Robert Pera, 47, is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Ubiquiti, a networking technology company headquartered in New York. Before starting Ubiquiti in 2005, Pera was employed at Apple...