Inditex's founder and main shareholder, Amancio Ortega, has bought a Walmart automated logistics centre in California (United States) for $109 million dollars (€98.9 million), sources familiar with the transaction confirmed to Europa Press.
As reported by the US real estate media 'Commercial Observer', Ortega closed the purchase of this 30,000 m2 logistics centre in the Inland Empire area of southern California through his investment arm Pontegadea.
This transaction comes a year after Zara's founder made his first foray into logistics when he bought a FedEx platform in Wisconsin (United States) for around €825 million and a second logistics asset, a distribution centre in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), for about €147 million.
In his focus on logistics, Ortega also bought in Europe after acquiring his first logistics warehouse in the Netherlands at the end of June for €105 million. This property, a 103,000 m2 logistics platform, is in the Dutch town of Venlo, leased to the transport and logistics firm DSV until 2033.
On 2 May, Ortega received a total of €1.1085 billion for the first remuneration of the year to be paid by Inditex to its shareholders, which is half of what he will receive in dividends from the Galician company this year. The entrepreneur will receive €2.217 billion in dividends from the company this year, up from the €1.718 billion he received last year.
The Inditex founder invests part of the dividends he receives from the textile company in real estate through his investment firm Pontegadea. Thus, Ortega owns the largest Spanish real estate company, focused on the purchase and management of large buildings, with a portfolio of real estate assets mainly comprised of office buildings, not residential, located in the centre of large cities in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia.