FASHION billionaire Amancio Ortega’s real estate investments recorded a 19 per cent increase in value in 2022, as it expanded into logistics and added luxury apartment buildings.

The property portfolio owned by the Inditex founder was valued at 18.1 billion euros (S$26.6 billion) in 2022, up from 15.3 billion euros in 2021, according to a statement on Thursday (Jul 27) from Pontegadea, the firm that manages Ortega’s fortune. Ortega’s real estate portfolio is the largest among Europe’s “super-wealthy” individuals.

Spain’s richest man spent about US$1 billion in warehouses across the US last year, in his first move to invest in the logistics industry after years of focusing mainly on commercial real estate. Pontegadea needs to spend close to 2 billion euros a year that it receives as dividends from Ortega’s 59 per cent stake in Inditex, owner of the Zara and Bershka clothing brands, among others.

Because of the legal and tax structure of Pontegadea, the firm needs to invest all the income it receives from Inditex within a year and in investments considered “real economy” – meaning it cannot put money into bonds and other types of securities. In 2022, Pontegadea had revenue of 2.5 billion euros, with Inditex dividends accounting for 1.7 billion euros. Turnover from the real estate business increased 21 per cent to 782 million euros.

The US logistics acquisitions included plants in Pennsylvania and Texas, making Ortega, 86, landlord to companies such as Amazon.com, TJX and FedEx.

In 2022, Ortega also bought two residential properties, a 64-story skyscraper in Seattle and an apartment building on New York’s Dutch Street.

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This year, Ortega agreed to pay US$115 million for his first European warehouse in Venlo, in the Netherlands, and bought a plant east of Los Angeles used by Walmart.

The recent acquisitions mark the latest steps to diversify a portfolio historically focused on landmark office and retail buildings, including Meta Platforms’ headquarters in Seattle, Manhattan’s historic Haughwout Building or London’s Adelphi.

The family office also also owns stakes in energy and telecom infrastructure operators and renewable power generators, including a 12 per cent stake in Portuguese power and gas grid operator REN-Redes Energeticas Nacionais SGPS and 5 per cent in Spanish electricity transporter Red Electrica.

Ortega has a net worth of US$76.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg billionaires Index. BLOOMBERG