Spain's richest woman is the daughter of Amancio Ortega and Rosalia Mera, co-founders of Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer. The Arteixo, Spain-based company had revenue of 26.1 billion euros ($29.8 billion) in the year to January 2019. She controls 5% of Inditex through her holding company, Rosp Corunna.
Sandra Ortega Mera's net worth of $7.65B can buy ...
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The majority of Ortega Mera's fortune is derived from her 5% interest in Arteixo, Spain-based Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer by sales according to Fast Retailing website. She controls her stake through Rosp Corunna, the family's investment vehicle based in A Coruna, Spain, according to Inditex's January 2019 corporate governance report.
Ortega Mera took control of the holding company upon her mother's death in August 2013. Cash held by the estate was taxed in this analysis at 18%, in accordance with Spanish inheritance tax law. A 99% deduction on this rate was applied to the shares and assets held by Rosp Corunna, in line with the regional tax laws of Galicia, where the company is based. Her cash holdings are valued based on an analysis of dividends, market performance, insider transactions, taxes and charitable contributions.
She also controls via Rosp Corunna a 5% stake in publicly traded Spanish pharmaceutical company Pharma Mar.
Jose Leyte, a spokesman for Ortega Mera, confirmed that her net wealth was in line with Bloomberg's calculation.
Sandra Ortega Mera was born in July 1968, the older of two children born to Spain's richest man, Amancio Ortega, and the late Rosalia Mera, his former wife and one-time business partner. When she was born, her parents were working together on a manufacturing business making women's bathrobes. They opened the first Zara store in La Coruna, Spain, seven years later.
Ortega and Mera separated in 1986 and divorced 11 years later. By that time, Ortega had incorporated the Zara chain into a holding company, Inditex. Ortega Mera remains Inditex's second-biggest shareholder and controls the shares through investment vehicle Rosp Corunna, which she owned with her mother until her death in August 2013.
A Catholic school graduate and trained psychologist, Ortega Mera serves as vice president of the Paideia Galicia Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by her mother that helps disabled people find jobs and develop greater autonomy. Her younger brother, Marcos, was born with a mental impairment.
She lives in the Galicia region of Spain with her husband, Pablo Gomez, and their three children.