So who is Britain’s richest landowner? It’s the Spanish born boss of Zara
THE rags- to- riches billionaire behind fashion chain Zara has overtaken the Duke of Westminster to become Britain’s richest property investor.
Amancio Ortega has leaped ahead of the Queen’s cousin to top a list of super-rich landowners.
The reclusive 78-year- old Spaniard sank his huge wealth into bricks and mortar and now has a £4billion global property empire including a large chunk of London’s Mayfair and office blocks in the City.
It puts the son of a railway worker, who is worth £35billion but still lunches in the staff canteen, top of an annual rich list of property investors.
Mr Ortega, who is the world’s fourth wealthiest man, has invested widely in the last year including £660million in London real estate, according to the Estates Gazette Rich List.
He owns Devonshire House, one time residence of the Dukes of Devonshire in the 18th and 19th centuries, located opposite the Ritz hotel in Piccadilly.
While the Duke of Westminster’s £2.8billion investment in the UK through his Grosvenor Estates is greater than
‘Still lunches at staff canteen’
Mr Ortega’s, his entire wealth is lower at £8.4billion.
And that puts him lower in the annual survey, which takes total personal wealth into account when assigning rankings.
The Duke has slipped into seventh position after his Grosvenor Group disposed of £ 240million of prime central London properties in April because of fears the UK residential market was overheating.
Both men have built substantial property portfolios but they could not have come from more different backgrounds.
Almost all of the Duke of Westminster’s wealth is inherited while Mr Ortega started out by selling cheap blouses.
With brother Antonio, he opened their first clothing store in the port city of La Coruna in north-west Spain, and called it Zorba after their favourite movie – the 1964 hit Zorba The Greek.
But when the name clashed with a nearby bar, the pair reused some of the letters from their sign to create Zara. Almost 40 years on, Mr Ortega has grown the firm into Inditex, the world’s largest clothing empire with seven brands including Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius.
It has a mammoth network of 6,460 stores in 88 countries and has grown bigger than British rivals Marks & Spencer and Next.
Famous fans include TV fashion expert Trinny Woodall and the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a £79.99 double-breasted Zara blazer during the Commonwealth Games.
A £19.99 choker she wore was also seen on television chef Mary Berry. The firm’s unique ‘fast fashion’ strategy involves refining its ranges throughout a season based on customer feedback.
Understated Mr Ortega lives a simple life in a flat in La Coruna with his second wife, Flora Perez.
He has three children. Daughter Marta works in the commercial department but has no executive role.
Behind Mr Ortega on the list is Joseph Safra, the Brazilian banker worth £9.4billion, who last month paid £ 726million for London’s Gherkin skyscraper.
Sixty of all those on the list inherited their wealth. There are 37 billionaires on the list, and while this year’s number one is worth almost £35billion, you would have needed ‘only’ £7.5billion to top the list just two years ago.