The profits of Inditex have allowed, since 2013, the Ortega family to monopolize the first two positions on the list of the richest people in Spain. Amancio Ortega remains in first position by getting his investments right. The second position has changed hands, passing from his wife, Rosalía Mera, to his daughter, Sandra Ortega Mera, who has managed to considerably increase her assets with a curious business in which she has involved her father: renting hotels to the hotels.
Like father Like Son. It is well known that Amancio Ortega is an atypical millionaire who has maintained absolute secrecy around his private life, and is not a person who is seen at public events or gives interviews. In fact, more is known about his life and fortune from the balance sheets of his companies than from statements to the media, despite the fact that it must not be easy to hoard an estimated fortune of 77.3 billion dollars and not attract attention.
Sandra Ortega Mera has inherited the same taste for privacy and has managed to maintain the same secrecy around herself as her father. However, he has let her investments do the talking for her. With an estimated fortune of $6.9 billion, Sandra Ortega is the second largest fortune in Spain and is ranked 344 on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world in 2023.
List of richest people in Spain in 2023. Source: Statista.com
The Ortegas’ nose for brick. Although the goose that lays the golden eggs for the Ortegas continues to be Inditex, the family has diversified its business with different branches. Amancio created the Pontegadea company, through which he has channeled the reinvestment in brick of the billions of dollars in dividends that he obtains from Inditex each year. In the year 2023, it is estimated that the businessman will receive around 2,217 million euros for this concept, which will go entirely to Pontegadea’s investment account to continue expanding its portfolio of office buildings.
For her part, the millionaire’s eldest daughter has increased her fortune by investing in the tourism and hotel sector through the Rosp Corunna company. Sandra Ortega, like her father, has found a niche in the real estate rental business for other companies, although her preference is not offices.
Rosp Corunna follows in the footsteps of Pontegadea. Pontegadea has become popular as the home of big tech in half the world. The Amazon headquarters in Seattle, the Facebook offices in Spain and the Apple Stores in Barcelona, Valencia, Paris, Miami and San Francisco stand out.
Rosp Corunna seems to follow the same path marked by Pontegadea. Instead of big technology, Sandra Ortega has become the landlady of the main hotel chains, thanks to the geographical variety of her investment portfolio. Among its tenants are chains such as Barceló, Palladium, Crestline Hotels & Resorts, The Standard and NH Hoteles. One of the most controversial rentals has been that of the Room Mate chain hotels in Miami, New York and Barcelona due to the litigation it had with the chain founded by Kike Sarasola for non-payment.
The Portuguese exception. Both investment instruments maintain a similar investment strategy, but both managers have followed very different paths. However, sometimes their interests coincide. Pontegadea’s specialty is corporate and luxury buildings but it seems that Amancio Ortega’s real estate investor has gotten a little closer to her daughter’s business in Portugal. In addition to a couple of shopping centers in Lisbon, Pontegadea has ten buildings that function as hotels: eight leased to the Accor chain, one to NH and the last to Iberostar.
Sandra Ortega also shows off the Portuguese exception in her business model and instead of renting buildings, she seems willing to develop a controversial tourist complex on the Troia peninsula, off the coast of Setúbal, which has raised eyebrows among environmentalists in the region. zone. The project includes a five-star ecoresort with sports and leisure facilities. In 2021, Rosp Corunna purchased the 98 hectares where the project will be developed for 50 million euros, and the final investment will be about 200 million more, which will create 300 jobs in the area.
