Zara founder Amancio Ortega unveils $17.2 billion global real estate empire

After making a fortune in clothing, Amancio Ortega turned his attention to real estate.

The Spanish billionaire’s property holdings have soared to euro 15.2 billion ($17.2 billion), his firm revealed on Tuesday for the first time, giving him the largest real estate portfolio among Europe’s super-rich.

Ortega, 84, the founder and owner of fashion label Zara, invested euro 2.1 billion in real estate last year through various subsidiaries of his holding company Pontegadea, according to an emailed statement. Pontegadea, which owns 59.3 per cent of Zara parent Inditex SA, had a net income of euro 1.8 billion for 2019, including euro 1.64 billion in Inditex dividends and euro 621 million from real estate assets.

Ortega, Spain’s richest man, has diversified his fashion fortune to preserve his sizable wealth, investing more than $3 billion in US real estate in recent years.

Amancio Ortega, Spain’s richest man, purchased the Torre Picasso skyscraper in Madrid in 2016

Acquisitions include landmark properties like Manhattan’s historic Haughwout Building and Miami’s tallest office tower. Last year, his investment firm completed a $72.5 million deal for a downtown Chicago hotel, which followed purchases of a building in Washington’s central business district and two Seattle office buildings.

As well as being landlord to tech giants such as Amazon.com and Facebook, Pontegadea also counts Inditex rivals Hennes & Mauritz AB and The Gap Inc as tenants.

The son of a railroad worker, Ortega has a net worth of $58.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the bulk of which comes from his majority stake in Inditex. His fortune has slumped more than a fifth this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced Inditex to close stores. The company’s shares have fallen 22 per cent this year.

Aside from real estate, Ortega has also invested in energy and telecommunications, buying a 5 per cent stake in Enagas last year. In 2018, Pontegadea bought a 9.99 per cent stake in Telefonica SA’s tower unit for euro 378.8 million.

Pontegadea said it expects to receive euro 646 million in dividends from Inditex in 2020.