Amancio Ortega, an funding in every port | Economy | EUROtoday

Amancio Ortega goes to make one in all his largest investments within the antipodes of his native land. Last week, the supply of the founding father of Zara, by way of his household funding automobile known as Pontegadea, for the Australian group Qube, very centered on port logistics, was finalized. In affiliation with the Macquarie fund, it should management this holding primarily based in Sydney by way of a inventory market providing that values ​​the corporate at round €7 billion.

It continues to be unknown what share of Qube will correspond to Pontegadea. But two conclusions will be drawn from the motion: that it will likely be one of many largest transactions within the household workplace de Ortega – sources conversant in the transaction reveal – and that he continues to diversify past actual property.

Pontegadea is an organization primarily based in A Coruña, with which Ortega (Busdongo de Arbas, León, 89 years previous) controls most of its shares in Inditex, holding to which manufacturers corresponding to Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka belong and of which it nonetheless owns nearly 60%. Thanks to the multimillion-dollar dividends it receives annually from the textile group—greater than 3.1 billion in 2025—Pontegadea has been investing in brick all through the world and has created an actual property portfolio valued at greater than 20 billion.

However, 5 years in the past, Pontegadea started to alter course barely and look in the direction of different sectors, corresponding to power and extra not too long ago infrastructure corresponding to ports, the place Ortega, one of many richest folks on the earth with a fortune of 148.7 billion {dollars} (about 126.1 billion euros, on the present trade fee), has now set his sights, based on estimates by Forbes.

The key to diversifying the household automobile—the place discretion imposed by the proprietor over enterprise actions prevails—is investing in nations with authorized certainty, primarily within the OECD (the group of essentially the most developed nations), by way of minority stakes in corporations which have a secure money circulation and are predictable, easy companies. “We are not looking for huge returns; we are looking for investments that protect us, that produce a constant cash flow and that maintain the value of the capital,” stated Roberto Cibeira, CEO of Pontegadea, in an interview a few years in the past with Financial Times. “We also look for investments that avoid a conflict of interest with Inditex, that means keeping a low profile,” he added.

Under this technique, Pontegadea entered power first. Thus, Ortega acquired 49% of two Repsol corporations that personal wind and photo voltaic parks (known as Kappa and Delta); later, with one other 49% of a renewable firm of the French EDF (the so-called Jazz mission); along with having shares for five% of Enagás; 5% of Redeia, and 13.7% of the Portuguese electrical energy and gasoline operator REN. In the telecommunications sector he entered Telxius, a submarine cable agency managed by Telefónica and of which the household workplace It has 30% of the share capital.

In this diversification, on the finish of 2024, the agency acquired 20% of Q-Park, with which it entered the parking enterprise. This firm, the place the KKR fund serves as the bulk accomplice, has parking heaps within the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark.

Last summer season, Pontegadea’s entry into port infrastructure was introduced, when it purchased 49% of the British firm PD Ports from the Canadian fund Brookfield – which continues as the bulk shareholder – a enterprise similar to the one it’s now shopping for in Australia.

There aren’t any up to date figures on how a lot these new investments are contributing to Pontegadea’s earnings. Of the group’s almost 4 billion turnover in 2024, the most recent information obtainable, 2.8 billion got here from dividends from Inditex, greater than 1 billion completely from the actual property sector and the remainder from the opposite investee corporations.

What you purchase

That of the Australian group Qube is Ortega’s final main funding exterior the actual property discipline and to advertise his enterprise holdings technique, with a really clear concentrate on transport infrastructure. That holding is the main operator of export and import logistics providers in Australia, protecting actions in rail, land and sea transport. It is energetic in New Zealand and Southeast Asia, and its turnover within the final full yr, 2024-2025, was 4,462 million Australian {dollars}, near 2,700 million euros on the present trade fee, 27.4% greater than in earlier accounts.

Qube’s enterprise is split into two giant branches: logistics and infrastructure on the one hand, and seaports on the opposite. The first was the one which grew essentially the most within the final yr, and the one which generated the best earnings, 55% of the full, along with being the one which contributes essentially the most to the full working revenue. Ports consists of container dealing with, bulk cargo and 50% possession in Patrick Terminals, Australia’s main maritime container terminal operator.

Pontegadea and its accomplice Macquarie hope to shut the transaction in the summertime, based on the documentation consulted by this newspaper. The native fund Unisuper, which already had 15% of the group, will retain that share. “This transaction represents another step in Pontegadea’s global investment diversification strategy,” Cibeira stated within the assertion in regards to the operation.

Ortega’s funding in corporations is predicated on sure standards that, within the case of Qube, are met. The firm is situated in a rustic, Australia, which is inside Pontegadea’s focus because of the authorized safety it gives. In Asia and Oceania, few markets curiosity the founding father of Inditex past Australia itself, South Korea, Singapore and Japan. In addition, it presents secure money era, a predictable earnings outlook given its exercise, and an growing profitability and dividend coverage. In the final 5 years, Qube’s web revenue has grown by 91%, and the dividend has grown by greater than 30%, delivering 600 million Australian {dollars} (360 million euros) to its shareholders in that interval. Investors who, till now, have been a string of banks and asset managers that purchased and bought their shares on the inventory market, from which they are going to be excluded as soon as the acquisition is accomplished. This rising dividend occurred once more final Friday, when the Australian firm introduced a rise of 29.2%, to 46.5 million euros, after the presentation of semi-annual outcomes.

An identical case is that of the British PD Ports, owned by Pontegadea since final summer season. Like Qube, it’s a port and logistics supervisor, wherein it has additionally taken a minority place, and which additionally has a rising enterprise: its earnings has grown by greater than 20% within the final 5 years. Its distribution of dividends is extra irregular, however in 2022, for instance, it distributed nearly 180 million euros.

Growing Ammo

While diversifying into enterprise holdings, Ortega has continued to develop his actual property empire. Thanks to those rising dividends, their brick-and-mortar purchases are typically more and more bigger and have additionally gone from buying workplace buildings, shops and inns—all the time in one of the best places in giant cities—to different forms of property, corresponding to rental properties within the luxurious market and logistics platforms. Here its favourite markets are the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Pontegadea’s funding energy has no different secret than the billion-dollar dividends that Ortega receives annually from Inditex. In the final 10 years, the quantity collected by way of this route exceeds 14,000 million. And every little thing signifies that in 2026, Ortega’s compensation will attain a brand new file. The textile group was, on the finish of its third quarter, on observe to attain a brand new file annual revenue, and its dividend coverage ensures the distribution of 60% of these earnings. More ammunition to proceed increasing the Ortega empire.