INDITEX founder and Spain's richest man Amancio Ortega has just bought part of Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, USA, for a cool €645 million.
The 82-year-old tycoon from Galicia, whose clothing and interiors empire includes Zara, Zara Home, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Massimo Dutti and Uterqüe, already had investments in property to the value of nearly €8.8 billion before purchasing a chunk of the building housing the online megastore's main office for US$740m.
The Troy Block, made up of two buildings joined together, is mostly owned by the USA Army Real Estate fund, and Ortega has bought a share in it via his own estate agency, Pontegadea Inmobiliaria.
Currently in the final stages of the transaction, if the sale completes as planned, it will be Pontegadea's largest purchase in the USA and its second-largest ever, after buying London's Adelphi building for €680m.
Last year, Pontegadea's turnover – mostly through rental income – totalled €385m, being a 13.6% increase on that of 2016.
Just over half, or 51% of Pontegadea's income is from European properties, whilst 46% is from buildings in the USA and the remaining 3% in parts of Asia.
Last year, Pontegadea's investments in properties totalled €629m, bringing its total portfolio to €6.9bn, of which nearly €1.7bn are in Spain and, of the remainder, €2.2bn are elsewhere in Europe, nearly €2.7bn in the Americas and €353m in Asia.
TWO of Spain's largest high-street banks are reported to be in merger talks, potentially resulting in the joint entity being the second-biggest in the country in terms of share capital.
THE average Spanish resident will spend between €500 and €1,500 on their holidays this year, with three in 10 set to increase their budget from last year and 16% reducing it.
SPAIN'S State post office has launched a new solution for passing travellers who do not want to lug their suitcases around: Lockers for bags are now provided, with prices depending upon weight.
