SPAIN'S top 100 wealthiest residents have been revealed in the annual Forbes list, with no change for the man who has topped it now for many years: Amancio Ortega, who founded the Inditex empire in Galicia with his ex-wife, the late Rosalía Mera.
The clothing corporation, whose most famous brand is Zara, is in fact behind the top two richest Spaniards and is largely responsible for the fortune belonging to the country's wealthiest female – Amancio's daughter through his first marriage to Rosalía, Sandra Ortega Mera – although her total assets are less than a tenth of those of her father.
Whilst Amancio Ortega is reportedly worth €57 billion, Sandra's wealth is cited as €5.6bn.
Nothing has changed for the third-richest Spaniard, and second-wealthiest man in the country, either: This continues to be Juan Roig Alfonso, who started up a small, family-run grocery shop just outside Valencia which went on to become one of the nation's largest and most-used supermarket chains, Mercadona.
With a fortune of €4.1bn, Roig's chain has also helped make his wife, Hortensia Herrero, sixth-wealthiest Spaniard – she holds 27% of the shares, whilst her husband owns 50% - and, with €2.4bn to her name, she is also the second-richest woman in the country.
Alicia Koplowitz, owner of Omega Capital, is Spain's third-richest woman, with €2.2bn in assets, and comes seventh.
Fourth overall is Rafael del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, CEO of rail transport corporation Ferrovial – founded by his father, Rafael del Pino Senior – with €3.2bn, whilst his sister, María del Pino Calvo-Sotelo is eighth-wealthiest in Spain and the fourth-richest woman with €1.9bn in assets, and his twin brother Leopoldo is number 13 with a €1.4bn fortune.
Figures are rounded up to the nearest million, so even though number 12 is said to own €1.4bn in assets, the exact amount is marginally – on paper – higher than that of Leopoldo del Pino Calvo-Sotelo; Manuel Lao, ex-owner of gaming and casino company Cirsa, recently made the Barcelona-province village of Matadepera Spain's richest municipality by mean average income per head after selling most of his firm.
Read full article at thinkSPAIN.com