Zara founder Ortega triples investment in energy assets
Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara and his investment company Pontegadea, almost tripled their investments in renewable energy last year. They are continuing to expand the efforts they have made to diversify Amancio Ortega’s fortune outside his fashion empire.
The 2023 financial statements filed at the Mercantile Register, and seen by reveals that the Inditex family office, which is the owner of Zara's mother company, invested 693 million euros (766.87 millions) in wind, solar, and other energy assets across Spain and France. This was up from the 273 million euros in 2022.
Inditex has recently set new environmental targets by 2030 to respond to regulatory demands.
Pontegadea has said that it will not be providing any additional information regarding its annual reports.
Since years, Ortega’s family firm has preferred real estate as an investment to the large returns from its core fashion business. It bought logistics centres that are used by global companies such as Fedex, Amazon and luxury buildings in Europe and the United States, as well offices and shops.
Ortega controls 59.29% Inditex capital through Pontegadea Inversiones, Partler Participaciones and his family office will receive 2.2 billion euro in dividends from Inditex by 2023.
According to filings, Ortega's Investment Vehicle bought buildings and logistics centres in Ireland, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg in 2023. This continued to build an property portfolio of more than 13 billion euros.
Pontegadea invests in global real estate through other companies and will receive at least 548 millions euros in rents by 2023. This is 17% more than the previous year.
It announced a list at the end 2023 of 13 minority stakes, with most of these in Spain. This was after several agreements were signed with Repsol Energy to purchase stakes in solar and wind farms.
The company also holds minority stakes in three French wind power parks located in the Montagne d'Ardeche region, Taillades Sud area and Champagne Picarde.
Pontegadea purchased a 5% share in the Spanish gas grid operator Enagas, and its hydrogen and renewables division Enagas Renovable.
(source: Reuters)
