A Look Inside Zara Founder Amancio Ortega's Real Estate Portfolio
Hailing from Spain, Amancio Ortega entered the world of garment business at a young age as a delivery boy. He later became an assistant at a retail store and learned the basic functioning of a business. The founder used less-expensive materials to create efficient clothes and founded a bathrobe business. In 1975, he established Zara, a ready-to-wear clothing line that became a flagship company under his holding company Inditex. His business ventures and investments made him one of the richest fashion retailers globally, with a fortune of over $70 billion. He uses his net worth to invest in properties that will offer significant gains in the future.
Amancio Ortega has a stunning list under his portfolio, from office buildings and historic properties to leasing his land to tech giants. Each unique and expensive, let’s take a look at his multi-million dollar property investments over the years.
Ortega’s property holdings have increased to $17.2 billion, making his portfolio the richest amongst Europe's most elite. While $2 billion of the income was earned through his Inditex dividends that Zara owns, he made $700 million through his real estate assets in various sectors in 2021 alone, as noted by Fortune. The mogul has invested more than $2 billion in the real estate market in the United States.
One of his major acquisitions includes the Haughwout Building in Manhattan, New York, designed by John P. Gaynor in 1856. The building is known to feature the first passenger elevator in the world. The five-story building is a commercial loft and received landmark status in 1965. He is also the owner of Miami’s most prominent office tower, called the Panorama Tower. Located in Brickell District, the eighty-five-story tower surpassed the other buildings in 2017 to become the tallest in the city.
In 2019, Amancio Ortega bagged a major hotel in Chicago called the Dana Hotel in River North. As mentioned by the Chicago Tribune, he paid $73 million to acquire the 216-room hotel, which reportedly cost him $336,000 per room. Hotels in Downtown Chicago have seen a strong surge of investments due to the increasing number of tourists visiting the Windy City.
Along with being the owner of several commercial premises, he is also the landlord having several properties in Europe and America. The ultimate rent collector has leased his estates to tech giants Facebook Inc. and Amazon Inc. for their office premises. Ortega purchased two office buildings in Seattle for $415 million in 2019 through his real estate firm Pontegadea Real Estate.
According to Business Standard, Ortega owns office premises of the tech giants Facebook and Amazon that periodically pay him the rent. He purchased the two buildings at the same time in March 2019, and Amazon has an operational value of $740 million, which makes it the biggest purchase in US history. These office buildings will offer him higher returns in the future as the tech giants grow their teams and require more space to continue expanding their business.
Along with tech giants, he also possesses a bank building near the White House in Washington DC. In 2007, he purchased the historic SunTrust Bank Building for $87 million. The iconic landmark was first built in 1888 and has been an essential part of the city’s first financial district. The building was sold to Ortega as a part of SunTrust Bank’s restructuring plan.
The founder owns several ventures under his parent company Inditex. One of his real estate subsidiaries is Pontegadea Real Estate. Through this company, the mogul has made several hard and fast investments over the years, including buying a 9.99% stake in the tower unit of Telefonica SA for $420 million in 2018. Pontegadea has also helped him invest a 5% stake in the natural gas transmission company Enagas.
He also keeps his rivals close as Pontegadea rents properties to rivals Gap Inc. and Hennes & Mauritz AB, as reported by Bloomberg Quint. As of 2022, Gap Inc. has assets worth $13.8 million, while H&M has a $21.8 billion turnover. Along with owning the largest and most successful fashion retail business, Ortega has expertly made his two biggest rivals as tenants through his investments.
While Amancio Ortega is private about his life, he has several homes worldwide. In a discreet apartment building, he lives with his wife in La Coruña, Spain. As the mogul enjoys spending his free time horseback riding, he is also the owner of an equestrian center in Finisterre in the community of Galicia in Spain.
From expensive commercial complexes to historic buildings, Amancio Ortega has benefited from making smart property investments over the years to help increase his net worth. Ortega has a $17.2 billion global empire in real estate, and the investor is expected to bag more properties in the coming years as the pandemic restrictions ease around the world.
Sources: Fortune, Chicago Tribune, Business Standard, Bloomberg Quint
from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/4gly8HO
Post a Comment