Spanish billionaire Sandra Ortega, Zara founder’s daughter, is set to get even richer

Sandra Ortega Mera, the elder daughter of Zara founder Amancio Ortega, is Spain’s richest woman and is likely to become much richer when her 90-year-old father’s estate passes to his heirs, Bloomberg reported this week.

Ortega owns 5.05% of Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, making her its second-largest shareholder after her father. Her stake is worth about €8.5 billion ($9.5 billion). Amancio Ortega, who owns nearly 60% of the company through his holding firm Pontegadea, is worth about $127 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Under Spanish law, at least a quarter of his estate must go to his descendants. That would give each of his three children at least $10.6 billion, according to Bloomberg’s calculations, though the inheritance may not come in the form of Inditex shares.

Two daughters, two roles

The sisters lead very different lives. Marta Ortega Pérez, Amancio’s daughter with his second wife, Flora Pérez Marcote, has chaired Inditex since April 2022 and is the public face of the family. She owns only a tiny direct stake in the company.

Sandra, his daughter with his first wife, Inditex co-founder Rosalía Mera, has no role at the company and is rarely seen in public. She inherited her stake when her mother died in 2013. Her husband has held low-profile roles at Inditex, and her children are not involved in the business.

Bloomberg noted that the descendants from Amancio’s two marriages have had little contact for decades. That raises questions about how they will work together as shareholders once he is gone. Pontegadea’s governance arrangements have not been made public. Sandra and her father were long estranged but have reportedly rebuilt their relationship.

The gap in dividends shows the difference in their holdings. In 2025, Sandra’s Inditex stake paid her holding company about €264.5 million, while Marta received about €27 million, according to the Dominican business magazine Mercado.

A quiet family office

Sandra manages her fortune through Rosp Corunna, a family office in A Coruña, the northwestern Spanish city where Inditex is based. Rosp’s profit rose 2% to €307 million in 2025, and its assets exceed €11 billion. Inditex is expected to pay it about €275 million in dividends this year.

Beyond Inditex, Rosp owns about 5% of the Spanish drugmaker PharmaMar and invests in venture capital and private equity funds, mostly in Spain. It has built a hotel portfolio that includes the Waldorf Towers in Miami and the Radisson Blu on Leicester Square in London, which it bought for €142 million a few months ago. It also owned the El Prado hotel in Palo Alto, California, which closed this year. Her three children joined the family office’s board in 2024.

Ortega has also spent years in court with her former asset manager, José Leyte, whom she dismissed in 2020 after accusing him of using her signature without permission. A criminal complaint against him was dismissed in 2022. In January this year, a Madrid court ruled in her favor in a €48 million claim against the bank Abanca, finding she had not signed or approved letters that committed her company to guarantee loans to the hotel chain Room Mate.

Her charitable foundation had a budget of about €3.5 million last year. In 2024 she opened a park she had financed in Oleiros, near A Coruña.