Zara’s billionaire founder pays €327m to set up Italian branch | kbnmart

Amancio Ortega, founder of Spanish retailer Zara, has acquired logistics assets in Italy for €327 million ($361 million).

The purchase, which includes sites in Milan and Rome, follows a series of similar deals by Ortega’s investment vehicle Pontegadea Inversiones SL, a company spokesman said, confirming an earlier report by Green Street News.

Late last year, Pontegadea acquired a logistics centre in Dublin used by companies including Amazon.com, and this year it bought a warehouse in the Netherlands used by fashion retailer Primark Stores.

The deal comes at a time when Italy’s industrial and logistics real estate sector is in decline, with investments worth €180 million in the second quarter, down 26% year-on-year, according to a CBRE report.

Pontegadea began buying logistics assets in 2022, spending nearly $1 billion on warehouses in U.S. states including California, Texas and Pennsylvania.