Spain's richest businessman buys logistics centre leased to Amazon in the UK for 92 million euros

The founder and largest shareholder of Inditex, Amancio Ortega, continues with his real estate investments in the UK through his company Pontegadea. His latest purchase is a logistics centre leased to Amazon for 81 million pounds (92 million euros).

It is a logistics warehouse with a surface area of almost 80,000 square metres, owned by PLP and located in Knowsley, some 13 kilometres from the port of Liverpool.

The deal between the two parties is one of the largest industrial transactions in the north-west this year and reflects a net initial profit of 5%.

This transaction comes just after Pontegadea closed the acquisition of the Sabadell Financial Center, where Banco Sabadell's US offices are located, for 274.4 million dollars (around 236 million euros).

In addition to this, Pontegadea recently purchased a hotel, located in a historic building in Paris, for 97 million euros. The seller was Spanish chain Derby Hoteles, which bought the hotel for 75 million euros in 2007.

In early September, Pontegadea also acquired the four-star Avani Museum Quarter Amsterdam from Minor, formerly NH Hotels, for 85 million euros.

In addition, Ortega's investment vehicle recently closed the purchase of an office building in Barcelona, where Grupo Planeta's headquarters are located, from Blackstone for 284 million dollars (250 million euros), which would make it Ortega's largest acquisition in Spain since the purchase of Madrid's Torre Foster in 2016 for 490 million euros.

Pontegadea's business model is based on the acquisition and management of non-residential buildings, mainly offices, located mainly in the centres of the world's major cities.

In addition to offices, the founder of Inditex, a group that includes Zara and numerous other high street fashion retail brands, owns hotels, logistics warehouses, residential blocks and shopping centres, among other properties, in countries such as Spain, US, France, Canada and Korea.

The founder of Inditex, who controls 59.294% of the company, equivalent to more than 1.8 billion shares, invests part of the dividends he receives from Inditex in the real estate sector.

Ortega will receive more than 3.1 billion euros in dividends from the company this year (half of which he already received last May), up from the 2.8 billion euros he received last year, when he increased his remuneration by 28%.