Alex Trelinski
THE WEALTHIEST people in Spain got richer by 37% last year despite the Ukraine war and inflation according to the latest Forbes list.
Inditex fashion group founder Amancio Ortega- who has been on top since 2014- saw his fortune grow by 53% to €81.8 billion.
The stock market revaluation of Inditex contributed to this, but also the fact that the valuation of Pontegadea- Amancio Ortega’s investment arm in the real estate business- shows it is worth almost €15 billion.
With a net worth of €8.8 billion, the founder of Inditex climbs eight steps in the ranking of the largest fortunes in the world and is now lies in 13th place internationally.
The accumulated wealth of the remaining 99 richest people in Spain is €114.3 billion million, 26% more, which translates into each millionaire earning an average of €83 million per day.
The top five on the list – Amancio Ortega and his daughter Sandra (Inditex); Rafael del Pino (Ferrovial); Juan Carlos Escotet (Abanca) and Juan Roig (Mercadona) – account for almost half the total of large fortunes, 48% or €102.7 billion.
Amancio Ortega’s fortune is more than double the sum of the rest of the fortune holders that make up the top 10.
His daughter Sandra is second in the list and the only woman in the top five with €7.1 billion- 31.5% more than last year.
The chairman of Ferrovial, Rafael Del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo, with €5.9 billion, remains in third place, although his fortune has grown by 55.3%.
The chairman and largest shareholder of Abanca, Juan Carlos Escotet, with a fortune of €4 billion, 25% more, is in fourth place this year and displaces the chairman of Mercadona, Juan Roig, in fifth place, with €3,9 billion- up 14.7% more.
Tomas Olivo, owner of General de Galerías Comercials, climbs to sixth place with a fortune of €3,500 billion, almost 13% more.
Daniel Mate, shareholder of the mining company Glencore, drops to seventh position, with €2.9 billion and equals the fortune of Juan Abello, who occupies eighth place.
The top 10 is completed by Leopoldo del Pino, a shareholder in Ferrovial, and the founder of Mango, Isak Andic, both with assets of €2.7 billion.
Despite not being among the 100 richest, Rafa Nadal is the Spanish athlete with the most wealth and is on the verge of entering the list with €297 million, followed by Fernando Alonso, with €270 million, and Andres Iniesta with €100 million.
In the world of culture, Baroness Carmen Thyssen appears as the 23rd most important fortune in the country, with a net worth of €1.4 billion, and seventeen places lower, the singer Julio Iglesias, with €750 million.
READ MORE:
- Spain’s richest man Amancio Ortega is selling beloved superyacht for €76million
- Marta Ortega takes over helm at Spain’s fashion giant Inditex with €1million salary
