Interest rate hikes, persistent inflation and the momentum of consumption have caused a sharp increase in the wealth of the great Spanish fortunes in the last year, according to the latest edition of the Forbes list. The top ten, with Amancio Ortega at the helm, add up to a capital of 117.4 billion euros, 43% more than in 2022, and there have been no changes to the top positions.
The founder and major shareholder of Inditex ranks first, with a fortune of 81,800 million euros, not only 53% higher than the previous year, but equivalent to that of the next 40 largest in the country. His wealth is the result of a 59% stake in Inditex, dividends of 2.2 billion euros last year from the textile giant and Pontegadea's investments, divided between real estate, telecommunications and energy companies.
He is followed in the ranking by his eldest daughter, Sandra Ortega Mera, second shareholder of Inditex and one of the main shareholders of the pharmaceutical company Pharmamar, with a fortune of 7.1 billion, 31% higher. On the other hand, Marta Ortega, also daughter of Amancio Ortega and president of Inditex, is outside the ranking, with a fortune valued at 80 million.
In third place is the president of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, who this year has promoted the transfer of the company's headquarters from Spain to the Netherlands. He has a fortune of 5.9 billion euros, 55% higher than last year.
Next on the list are the president of Abanca, the Spanish-Venezuelan Juan Carlos Escotet, with 3,200 million, and the founder of Mercadona, Juan Roig, with 3,900 million. Behind them are the second main shareholder of Unicaja, Tomás Olivo; the owner of 3% of the multinational Glencore, Daniel Maté; the entrepreneur who founded the Torreal fund, Juan Abelló, and the shareholder of Ferrovial Leopoldo del Pino Calvo-Sotelo. The top ten list is closed by the president of Mango, Isak Andic.
Andik, with 2.7 billion euros in assets, has climbed from twelfth place to tenth. It is the largest Catalan fortune, compared to the honorary president of Grifols, Víctor Grífols i Roura, who has 2,400 million in assets, and the president of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Sol Daurella, to whom a fortune is attributed 2,000 million.
All these names are part of a wider list composed of the hundred richest in Spain, whose fortune now rises to 196,130 million euros, the equivalent of nearly 12% of the country's GDP, after register an increase of 37% in the last year. 57% of them pay taxes in Madrid or Barcelona. Also among the rich there are classes: the first five concentrate almost half of all the wealth of the group.
