Architect Santiago Calatrava transfers his fortune from Spain to Switzerland
Investment portfolio worth more than €30 million moved to Zurich holder
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Calatrava Family Investments on November 23 became a registered company in the Swiss Canton of Zurich. It was registered by Robertina María Marta Calatrava in her capacity as legal administrator of the company on the rolls of the Mercantile Registry, the business daily Cinco díasreported on Monday.
According to the accounts of Calatrava Family Investments placed in the hands of the registry on December 7, the architect behind the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia holds a portfolio of long-term investments. No further details were provided but their total worth stands at 31.7 million euros - the same amount that the company's books reflected he managed in 2010.
Until now, Calatrava's business interests were registered in Madrid. He transferred it through Handelsregister to Kantons Zurich, the Mercantile Registry of the Swiss canton's capital city.
According to the Official Gazette of the Spanish Mercantile Registry, the single-owner company controlled by the architect remains inscribed on its rolls. It is now called Calatrava Family Investments GmBH.
The architect earned almost 100 million for the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
In the company's organogram are the architect's children, Robertina, a Spanish citizen since 2001, and his son Alejandro Rafael Calatrava. Both are listed as legal administrators. Their job is to buy shares in national and international real estate share concerns and manage their evolution.
The huge fees paid to Calatrava, and some of his designs, have invited a lot of criticism.
In 2006 Calatrava and his team were ordered to pay 3.15 million euros in compensation to the Palacio de Congresos in Oviedo after the eaves of the building collapsed. The Italian Treasury is seeking 3.4 million euros from Calatrava and his collaborators for multiple design faults in the fourth bridge over Venice's Grand Canal.
The Valencia regional government of Francisco Camps paid Calatrava 15 million euros to design three skyscrapers that in all probability will never be raised, and the architect earned almost 100 million for the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, which cost over a billion euros to complete.
