Zara founder Amancio Ortega posts 32% rise in real estate profits

The vast fortune in the hands of Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex  – the parent company of clothing chain Zara – keeps growing.

But the profits are not just coming in from his retail fashion outlets, which also include brands such as Bershka, Massimo Dutti and Oysho.

Ortega’s real estate activities are becoming more profitable every year. Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, the company that he uses to invest in office and retail space, posted net profits of €93.3 million last year, a 32% increase from the previous year, according to the company’s filings with the Spanish Business Register.

The Galician tycoon’s property company specializes in scooping up buildings on the best streets of the world’s major cities. Most of these buildings already have occupants, and Ortega becomes their new landlord. The building housing the Apple Store in Barcelona and the Picasso Tower in Madrid are among the properties in his portfolio.

Pontegadea specializes in scooping up buildings on the best streets of the world’s major cities

In 2013, Pontegadea collected €98.5 million in rent, €4.3 million more than in 2012. Of this amount, €75.7 million came from Spanish investments and €22.7 million from foreign tenants.

Pontegadea also made €35 million by investing and lending to other companies in the Inditex group. Meanwhile, its bank debt decreased by €73.8 million to €325.1 million.

Total assets on Pontegadea’s balance reached over €4.5 billion in 2013, a 19% rise on the previous year.

This year, Pontegadea has been busy as well. In January it emerged that it had bought the Barcelona building where the bank Banesto was once headquartered for €44 million, and Pontegadea is also reported to have purchased the property that houses the Apple Store in Valencia.

Forbes lists Ortega as the world's fourth richest man with a net worth of $62.5 billion, after Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.