Founder of Zara becomes world's top real estate magnate

Zara founder and billionaire Amancio Ortega has amassed a personal real estate empire worth 21.2 billion euros in 200 properties across 13 countries. The data, published by Forbes magazine on Tuesday, shows he is the world's biggest property magnate.

The 90-year-old Spanish businessman has gradually built a property empire beyond fashion, thanks to the profits generated by the internationally renowned Inditex group, of which he controls around 60 per cent of the shares. Last year alone, Ortega spent more than 2.5 billion euros on property acquisitions in ten cities across eight countries.

From Vancouver to Luxembourg, the purchases have included office buildings, hotels, industrial properties and even a luxury retail complex and an apartment tower. Most of these investments were made in North America. According to the magazine, Ortega typically carries out transactions in cash, without debt, and rarely sells the luxury assets he acquires.

The Galician businessman, who controls household names such as Zara, Stradivarius, Bershka and Pull&Bear, has been investing in real estate since 2001, the same year he floated Inditex on the stock market. Under the umbrella of the multinational, he has continued to acquire properties, Forbes reports, following a low-risk profile focused on prime assets in the market.

Among his most expensive purchases are the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto (775 million euros), the Canada Post building in Vancouver (724 million) and The Post office complex in London (665 million). In Madrid, he acquired the well-known Torre Picasso, a 43-storey building, for 457 million euros in 2011.

Through Pontegadea, his main investment vehicle - also created in 2001 - the tycoon has reinvested the multi-million-euro dividends generated by his textile empire, much of it into real estate. Forbes claims the Galician businessman has saved around 800 million euros since 2001 by ploughing dividends into ports, solar and wind farms, telecommunications companies and numerous properties.

Ortega, whose fortune stands at around 120 billion euros, is the tenth richest person in the world, according to Forbes' ranking published in March. The list is topped by Elon Musk, main shareholder of Tesla, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.