Zara's owner invests heavily in properties in the United States

Amancio Ortega is a Spanish who conquers the United States in the 21st century.

This month, the billionaire's investment vehicle behind Zara's parent company, Inditex SA, has finalized a bid of US $ 72.5 million for a hotel in the center of Chicago. This, after the purchase in the last six months of a building in Washington's central business district and two Seattle offices rented by Amazon.com Inc., for a total of 1,100 million US dollars.

Ortega's skyrocketing US spending is increasing the value of its global empire of properties beyond $ 13 trillion, according to Bloomberg's billionaire index, leaving it the largest real estate portfolio among super-rich of Europe. In their efforts to diversify their fashion fortune in order to preserve their considerable wealth, Ortega has invested more than 3,000 million US dollars in real estate in the United States.. over the past six years, acquiring historic properties such as the building Haughwout from Manhattan and the tallest office tower in Miami.

"If I were a multimillionaire investor trying to preserve its wealth in the long run, I would look for key buildings in major cities"said Alex James, London partner of the private client team of real estate broker Knight Frank.

The economic stability of the United States has made the country a popular destination for foreign real estate investors. Cross-border acquisitions of commercial properties in the United States According to Real Capital Analytics, they totaled $ 94.9 billion last year, which is almost a peak, led by Canadian, French and Singaporean buyers.

US real estate is the largest part of the real estate portfolio outside Spain of Ortega's main investment vehicle: Pontegadea Inversiones SL, based in Arteixo, A Coruña, according to documents filed by the supervisory authorities. In March, the company paid 740 million US dollars for properties rented by Amazon, which the local county estimates at 550 million US dollars, according to the Seattle Times. The agreement is one of the largest in Pontegadea and rivals what it paid last year to acquire an office building in London from Blackstone Group LP.

"The agreement with Amazon is a statement since it's an important office infrastructure," James said. "The difference between Pontegadea and Blackstone or another private equity firm is that multimillion-dollar capital can afford to keep the badet for much longer, and it will not keep it for five years before selling it. "

A spokesman for the Pontegadea and Ortega Charitable Foundation declined to comment.

Beyond the United States, Pontegadea has invested in properties in the United Kingdom, Canada and Spain, focusing on major cities such as Madrid and Toronto. In a case of break with the real estate, the investment company agreed last year to take a stake in the Telefónica SA tower, Telxius Telecom SA, for an amount of 378.8 million euros. EUR (423 million USD).

Ortega, 83, has a net worth of $ 63,600 million, according to the Bloomberg index, making it the sixth richest person in the world. Most of his fortune comes from his majority stake in Inditex, the world's largest operator of fast-food chains. Ortega, unlike other billionaires, funds its investment vehicles through Inditex dividends, instead of committing shares in the financing of other acquisitions.

Since the IPO of Inditex in 2001, Ortega has received more than $ 9,000 million in dividends, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Although it was once the second richest person in the world, Ortega's wealth dropped as Inditex's earnings growth stagnated. Their shares have fallen by more than 30% since they hit record levels two years ago.

Ortega has spent most of his life in the garment industry. Son of railway worker, he began working in a clothing store in A Coruña at the age of 13 years. In 1963, she began making bathrobes for women with her brothers and future wife, Rosalía Mera. She opened the first Zara store in 1975 and incorporated an Inditex conglomerate a decade later.

Ortega resigned from the Inditex presidency in 2011. He has never had his own office. Instead, he preferred to work with employees in the main design area, according to "Zara and her sisters: the story of the world's largest clothing retailer", by Enrique Badia.