Class Economy Premium: Amancio Ortega lands in Asia and buys a building for 328 million

Friday, February 5, 2016

Amancio Ortega lands in Asia and buys a building for 328 million – EntornoInteligente

Expand / Pontegadea last acquisition M Plaza, a singular building of 27,000 square meters and 22 floors in the center of Seoul, rented to stores such as Zara and Forever 21 and a hotel.

Amancio Ortega will debut as an investor in Asia with the purchase of a building in Seoul (South Korea) for 328 million euros. The founder of Inditex, through its holding company Pontegadea, finalizing the acquisition of the building M Plaza, a building of 27,000 square meters and 22 stories high located in Myeongdong, one of the main shopping areas of Seoul.

Opened in 2008, M Plaza has five floors of retail space, rented to stores such as Zara, Forever21, Folli Follie and Daiso. The top 17 floors are occupied by the Solaria Nishitetsu hotel group West Japan Railway.

Myeongdong is Seoul’s equivalent of the Gran Via in Madrid, a point to stop for both tourists routes Shopping. Precisely the place that Zara they stood at M Plaza, the third establishment that opened in the city, is considered the reference store in the country.

The location of the building and the guarantees offered by their tenants caused when this asset was released mid last year, many offers of international investors present. Recently reported the Korean JoongAng Daily, “the supply of Amancio Ortega won the bid to other competitors because unlike the investment managers, who need to raise funds from institutional and private investors, the president of Inditex invested so direct. “

with this transaction, which is about to close, Pontegadea be released in Asia, where, despite having a vast sales network, had not made any investment in the sector property. Pontegadea assets valued at more than 6,000 million euros, were so far in eight countries in Europe and America. Amancio Ortega buildings are divided between Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, UK, USA, Canada and Mexico.

South Korea will be the ninth country in which enters the founder of Inditex and you do so at a similar formula that has been used so far: with the purchase of buildings in the best commercial locations in a big city. As has also been done in the past, this property has one of the reference stores Star brand chain. Zara

Latest acquisitions Amancio Ortega, who last year became the second fortune world, second only to Bill Gates, spends much of the dividends received from Inditex in real estate. Last December, the largest shareholder of the fashion chain, with 59%, received 480 million euros in dividends, which rose to 961 million the total amount received in 2015 for that game.

That same month, Ortega bought the legendary building Haughwout New York for 145 million euros. It is a building located on Broadway, one of the most commercial of the city, in the district of Soho. Just three months ago, the entrepreneur, through Pontegadea, had acquired a shopping complex in Miami (United States) 370 million. In this case, the operation covered an entire block in Lincoln Road, the main shopping area of the city. And it is that the United States has been one of the main destinations of the operations of Amancio Ortega, who in 2015 also acquired the Esquire Theater in Chicago, for 176 million dollars (157 million euros at current exchange rates).

United Kingdom has been one of the favorite destinations of the Galician businessman. In recent years he has made at least ten investment operations in London for a total of 3,000 million euros. The last operation in the British capital has been buying Almack House for about 320 million euros, although its greatest investment in the city by far has been the purchase of Devonshire House, a building in Picadilly acquired 410 million pounds (535 million euros at current exchange rates).

the last operation, as yet, Pontegadea has been the purchase of the building located at number 32 of the Gran Via in Madrid. This purchase marks the return of the Galician Spanish real estate entrepreneur, after their recent operations had focused on the US and UK. The building of the Gran Vía is leased to various fashion chains, among which are some of its competitors: Mango, H & M and Primark. 36,000 square meters and has entailed an outlay of 400 million euros. His last major operation in Spain had been before buying Torre Picasso, in 2011, 400 million.

In this type of transaction, the family office of the Galician giant is measured with major international investors, which in most cases are institutional funds as Deka and Axa, or sovereign funds like GIC, the Singapore fund.

Amancio Ortega lands in Asia and buys a building for 328 million

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