Rosalía Mera becomes third richest Spaniard at height of crisis

Rosalía Mera, the ex-wife of Amancio Ortega and owner of 6.99% of Inditex and 5% of Zeltia, was the richest woman in Spain several years ago. Now she owns the third largest fortune in the country, ousted only by Ortega himself and the Del Pino family.

From the beginning of the crisis in 2008, her inheritance had grown by 16% to some 2.48 billion euros, surpassing the Entrecanales, Manuel Jove and Esther Koplowitz families and several entrepreneurs such as Alberto Cortina and Alberto Alcocer, who are joint investors. And Mera´s growth would have been higher yet if it wasn?t for her investment in Zeltia. Since November 2007 it has dropped in value by 20%.

Growth

As it watches the markets collapse, the Galician company Inditex has not stopped expanding. Thanks to betting on international sales and growth in Asia, its capitalization is currently around 34.8 billion euros. Because its debt is manageable and it is sitting on a stock pile of more than 4 billion euros, it could keep opening around 400 stores every year. It is already a world leader in revenues and stock market valuation.