• Investment.The wealthy Spaniards move their fortunes under the threat of tax increases

Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex and one of the richest businessmen in the world, has taken advantage of the last few months to reorganize the corporate structure of Grupo Pontegadea - the investment arm that brings together all its holding companies, its real estate subsidiaries and its business interests - to simplify its structure and reallocate assets under management based on their nature.

The reorganization goes through the absorption of the company Grilse , owner of real estate assets in Spain, by Pontegadea Spain; the absorption by Pontegadea Inversiones of its subsidiary Pontegadea 2015 with its financial stakes (including that of Telxius), and the spin-off of Pontegadea Inversiones from the new company Pontegadea GB 2020, which groups real estate assets located in the British market.

In addition, the group announced on Tuesday the contribution of the shares of Inditex (9.28%) and Enagás (5%), hitherto directly owned by Partler 2006, to its new subsidiary Partler Participaciones, according to information sent to the Commission National Stock Market (CNMV).

Grilse was created in 2001 and gave birth to the current group. Until now, among other assets, was the Casas Novas Equestrian Center that the creator of Zara built for his daughter Marta. Now this and the rest of Grilse real estate are under the protection of Pontegadea Spain.

For its part, the creation of Pontegadea GB 2020 is linked to the Brexit process in the United Kingdom and will allow the group to isolate possible risks derived from the divorce process with the European Union.

2019 results

In addition, in the coming days the group will deposit its accounts corresponding to 2019 in the commercial register, which show a net profit of 1,778 million euros , compared to 1,550 million the previous year, after accounting for 104 million euros in donations to the Foundation Amancio Ortega. Turnover, meanwhile, reached 2,261 million euros .

The real estate portfolio, one of the pillars of its investment strategy, reached a market value of 15,163 million euros . This figure includes the valuation of all the assets belonging to the Pontegadea Group, unlike in previous years when the firm only published the valuation of the assets within Pontegadea Inversiones.

The founder of Inditex maintains its strategy in the brick , which is based primarily on building solid wealth, acquiring first-rate assets to rent them to large companies and leading companies that provide stability and a recurring business for Ortega.

During the 2019 financial year, the Pontegadea group made real estate investments worth 2,065 million euros.

The main investments were made in the United States, where the acquisition of the Troy Block and Arbor Blocks complexes in Seattle and 815 Connecticut Avenue in Washington DC stand out. In the UK, it closed the purchase of The Post Building. 61% of the global real estate portfolio is located in Europe.

Coronavirus impact

Although it is still early to accurately gauge the impact of the coronavirus in the real estate sector, the group is confident that it is below the market since its clients are firms with a good solvency situation.

Outside the real estate field, the purchase of 5% of the capital of the Enagás company took place , which is added to the 9.99% of Telxius that it acquired a year ago and the 59.29% stake that it owns in Inditex.

The group's balance sheet includes a financial debt of 1,091 million euros and treasury and equivalents amounting to 907 million (with a net debt position of 184 million euros), as well as donation commitments to the Amancio Ortega Foundation for an amount of 268 million euros.

Regarding the possible consequences of the coronavirus crisis on its results for this year, the firm has not identified "significant adverse effects", although it could potentially affect rental income and dividends. In relation to the dividends from Inditex, this company has planned a payment of 0.35 euros per share for 2020, which will represent an income for the Pontegadea Group of 646 million euros, compared to 1,626 in 2019.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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