Zara billionaire Amancio Ortega to draw record dividend of €3.2 billion

Inditex founder Amancio Ortega (file image)

• Amancio Ortega to get €3.2B in Inditex dividends this year
• Inditex raises dividend by 4% to €1.75 per share
• Ortega reinvests dividends in real estate and infrastructure

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Amancio Ortega is set to collect about €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) in dividends this year from Zara owner Inditex SA, the biggest such payout the billionaire has received from the retail giant he co-founded more than six decades ago.

Inditex announced Wednesday that it plans to increase its dividend by 4% this year to €1.75 a share. Ortega, whose daughter Marta is the company’s non-executive chairwoman, is the group’s largest shareholder with a more than 59% stake mostly through his family office Pontegadea Inversiones.

Ortega, 89, has a net worth of about $126.7 billion, making him the 15th wealthiest person in the world as of Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Inditex shares have climbed 33% in the last two years, hitting a record high in February. With a market capitalization of €167.6 billion, the company is the world’s largest listed clothing retailer.

Ortega usually uses the bulk of the dividends to buy real estate — mostly high-end commercial and residential properties in large cities. Pontegadea is also an investor in renewable energy projects as well as power, gas and telecom infrastructure.

The purchases have given Ortega such iconic properties as New York’s Haughwout Building, the Southeast Financial Center in Miami, Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza and The Post Building in London.

Pontegadea last month joined a consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management to buy ports and rail operator Qube Holdings Ltd. in a deal worth around A$11.7 billion ($8.3 billion).

Last year, Ortega’s family office agreed to buy The Post building in downtown Vancouver, a two-tower complex leased to Amazon.com Inc., and paid more than $105 million for Miami’s Atlas Plaza. It also acquired a 49% stake in the UK’s PD Ports.