Costa del Sol-based businessman in Forbes' top-10 list of richest people in Spain

A businessman based on the Costa del Sol has ranked in Forbes' top-10 list of the wealthiest people in Spain in 2023.

Tomás Olivo, who has a net worth of 3.5 billion euros, according to the magazine, ranked sixth in the annual rankings. The owner of General de Galerías Comerciales was born in Murcia but has been closely linked to Malaga province for decades.

Ahead of him are Amancio Ortega - head of the Inditex fashion empire - with an unbeatable 81.8 billion euros; Sandra Ortega Mera (7.1 billion); Rafael del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, president of Ferrovial (5.9 billion); the first executive of Abanca, Juan Carlos Escotet (4 billion euros); and Juan Roig, president of Mercadona (3.9 billion euros).

Tomás Olivo climbed 11 places on the Forbes list in the past year after more than doubling his wealth from last year where he was ranked 17th with 1.5 billion euros, and 16th the previous year with 1.3 billion - he was last in the top 10 in 2020 when he was ranked ninth.

Olivo is the owner of General de Galerías Comerciales, a listed real estate investment company which is one of the most important Spanish groups in the sector. During its 20 years of operations the company has developed and managed several commercial complexes in Andalucía, Catalonia, the Canary Islands and Murcia. In addition, as stated on its website, in the coming years it plans to undertake new projects in large acquired land reserves as well as extensions to existing commercial centres.

Among the assets it manages are the Parque Comercial La Cañada in Marbella, as well as the Centro Comercial Mediterráneo and the Parque Comercial Gran Plaza in Almeria. It also operates the Mataró Parc Shopping Centre in Catalonia.

The businessman first entered the list of Spain's richest people in 2018, a year after his real estate company was listed on the former Alternative Stock Market (now renamed BME Growth). In that year, his fortune stood at 1.8 billion euros, a figure that had fallen to 1.3 billion in 2021 and which in the last two years has grown again to almost double the initial figure.

Olivo also made headlines recently after it emerged that he had become the second largest shareholder of Unicaja Banco, with a 9.12% stake in its capital.

Mayoral returns to Forbes

Malaga is also represented on the Forbes list by Manuel Domínguez de la Maza who, with his wealth of 610 million euros, occupies 64th place in the rankings. Managing director, chief executive and sole administrator of Mayoral, he is also one of the owners of the family holding company Indumenta Pueri, Mayoral's parent company, and has shareholdings in companies such as Adolfo Domínguez, Laboratorios Rovi and Unicaja Banco, among others. Manuel Domínguez de la Maza is the son of Rafael Domínguez de Gor, who in 2020 was the 40th richest person in Spain.