Zara founder Ortega triples investment in energy assets

Zara founder Amancio Ortega's investment firm Pontegadea almost tripled its investments in renewable energy projects last year, building on its push to diversify the Spanish billionaire's fortune beyond his fashion empire and real estate.

According to 2023 financial statements filed with the Mercantile Register and seen by Reuters, the family office of the main owner of Zara mother company Inditex poured 693 million euros ($766.87 million) into wind, solar and other energy assets in Spain and France, up from 273 million euros in 2022.

The bet on renewable energy comes at a time when Inditex itself has set new targets to reduce its environmental impact by 2030 and respond to regulatory pressures.

Pontegadea said it will not provide additional information about its annual reports.

For years, Ortega's family firm has favoured real estate to invest the hefty returns of its core fashion business, buying logistics centres used by large global companies, such as Fedex and Amazon, luxury buildings in the United States and Europe, as well as offices and stores.

Ortega controls 59.29 per cent of Inditex capital trough Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler Participaciones, and his family office received 2.2 billion euros worth of Inditex dividends in 2023.

In 2022, Pontegadea bought a 5% stake in Spanish gas grid operator Enagas and its hydrogen and renewables unit Enagas Renovable.