US$5 billion question: What is self-made man Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) of the Philippines planning to buy now? My guesses: A brewery in Asean? An Asian airline? An airport?

My Comments:
This self-made businessman Ramon Ang is amazing: he comes out of nowhere as engineer to become trusted executive of Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, Jr., he serves with total loyalty and remarkable success, he eventually rises to become the big boss of Southeast Asia's biggest and also oldest brewery and food conglomerate, he boldly diversifies San Miguel, and how he's on the way to becoming the possible No. 1 business leader in the Philippine economy with his most breathtaking corporate maneuvers! Whew!

My wild guess is it's possible San Miguel may buy the shareholdings of Japan's Kirin beer in the Singapore brewer of Tiger beer, since coincidentally Kirin beer is also a shareholder in San Miguel?









(Image of the September 2012 issue of Summit Media's Esquire Philippines magazine)

San Miguel Declines to Identify Acquisition Target

Oct 22, 2012 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) --

By Cris Larano

MANILA--San Miguel Corp. (SMC.PH) on Monday declined to name an acquisition target, citing confidentiality restrictions in the negotiations on the potential investment.

San Miguel President Ramon Ang told reporters Saturday that the Philippine conglomerate is planning a 5 billion acquisition that may be completed within the year, Bloomberg reported. He said San Miguel faces other regional companies in the bidding, but didn't name the target or the industry it is in, according to the report.

San Miguel "has been invited to participate and submit a bid for a possible investment...in line with the ongoing diversification programs and initiatives implemented by the company," San Miguel corporate secretary Virgilio Jacinto told the Philippine stock exchange on Monday.

"Owing to the confidentiality obligations imposed on the company, we are not in a position to disclose the salient features of the said investment opportunity," he said.

Over the past five years, San Miguel has moved away from food and beverage to heavy industries that provide higher returns for the conglomerate. It has acquired oil refiner Petron Corp. and bought minority stakes in power distributor Manila Electric Corp., toll road operator Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., Philippine Airlines Inc. as well as airports, power generation companies, and infrastructure development companies. In Malaysia, San Miguel last year took control of oil refiner Esso Malaysia Bhd.

Mr. Ang has said in previous interviews that the company was looking to acquire Asian firms with international operations as well as regional carriers to help Philippine Airlines launch more flights to the U.S. and Europe.

College drop-out Michael Farrell built world's largest mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) named Annaly, an outstanding businessman and leader

My Comments on this businessman who personified success and outstanding leadership:

It is sad to read or hear praises about a good and/or successful person only after he or she dies. This is the case here of talented world-class businessman Michael A. J. Farrell, who just died at 61 years old because of cancer.

I have only read about Michael Farrell right now, after reading various obituary articles about him. He is still very young at age 61 and still at the prime of his accomplished life!

The life and business career of self-made man Michael Harrell is inspiring, and I want to share it.



(Undated picture below of Michael Farrel is from Annaly Capital Management, Inc.)




(Images below: Farrell Clan's ancient Coat of Arms in Ireland on the left and the New York-listed Annaly firm's corporate logo on the lower right side. The firm’s name "Annaly" refers to Farrell’s ancestors in Ireland who were the reigning clan of Longford and ruled from Annaly Castle, which is incorporated in the crest of the REIT’s logo. Michael Farrell is a modern self-made man with a keen sense of history.)

Bloomberg article by Justin Doom and Jody Shenn - Oct 22, 2012

Michael A.J. Farrell, who built Annaly Capital Management Inc. into the world’s largest mortgage real estate investment trust, has died after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He was 61.

His death was confirmed yesterday in a statement by the New York-based company, which didn’t provide additional details.

Farrell, who graduated high school at 16 with plans to become a commercial artist, instead turned to Wall Street, beginning at E.F. Hutton & Co. in 1971. After stints at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co., he started Annaly in 1997 and increased assets to about $128.3 billion at the end of June, turning the firm into one of the largest buyers of home loan debt backed by the U.S. He branched out with separate companies that buy non-agency bonds and commercial real estate securities.

“Mike will be missed not only for his stature in the business, but as one of the class guys in our industry,” said Shawn Matthews, chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the brokerage arm of Cantor Fitzgerald LP. “He hired me into this business and I have always considered him a mentor, great leader and true gentleman.”

Farrell, Annaly’s chairman and CEO, was receiving chemotherapy for cancer that “was caught early” and was considered treatable, according to a company statement in January. In May, the firm disclosed it was in remission, while this month, it said Wellington Denahan-Norris, Annaly’s co- founder, was appointed joint CEO to allow Farrell to focus on his “ongoing treatment.”

‘Fantastic Leader’

Annaly has returned more than 600 percent to shareholders since its initial public offering, outpacing the 94 percent gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Shareholders almost doubled their money in the past five years as Farrell and Denahan- Norris, 48, navigated the financial crisis and then forecast how Federal Reserve efforts to boost housing and the economy would impact bond markets.

The two executives each earned $35 million in 2011, making them among the world’s highest-paid financial-services executives.

“He was a fantastic leader and friend and will be greatly missed,” Annaly said in the statement. “Our hearts go out to his family and all those who were fortunate enough to know him.”

(This photo by © Susan Farley/The New York Times/Redux)

Brooklyn Born

Farrell was born on April 10, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from high school at 16, according to an article published last year in Wake Forest Magazine. He and his wife, Mary Flynn, neither of whom completed college, committed $10 million to the school in “the largest cash commitment by a living individual in the university’s history.”

His son, Michael Edward Farrell, studied finance and economics at Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Wake Forest University, graduating in 2010. Farrell is also survived by his wife and their children Caitlin, a 2008 graduate of College of the Holy Cross, and Taylor. In addition, he’s survived by Kelly, a daughter from his first marriage, and two grandchildren.

Farrell’s parents, Michael John and Vera, left Europe for the U.S. after World War II, during which the elder Farrell served as a member of the Irish Guards, nearly dying in the Operation Market Garden attack in September 1944. Once in Manhattan, he waterproofed skyscrapers, painted subway cars and worked as a janitor at an elementary school before dying in 1986 at age 66, according to the magazine.

Trading Bonds

Farrell told the publication he wanted to be a rock star after giving up on becoming an artist. Instead he ended up trading bonds, specializing in mortgages. In 1991, while head of fixed income at Wertheim Schroder & Co., where he also hired Cantor Fitzgerald’s Matthews, he met Denahan-Norris, with whom he founded Annaly six years later.

Farrell had concluded that REITs and mortgage bonds were a “perfect marriage between asset class and vehicle structure,” in part because they can be “buy-and-hold” investors, he said in a Bloomberg story in April. Unlike hedge funds or many mutual funds, REIT shareholders can’t withdraw money from the firms. Instead they buy and sell shares in the companies.

Farrell stood out for his colorful conference calls and shareholder letters that discussed broader themes through historical allusions and literature such as Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus” and the 1970 book “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler.

Bond Yields

While Annaly has benefited as the Fed held short-term interest rates near zero to bolster the economy, its shares have declined 6.1 percent through Oct. 19 since the central bank said in September it would purchase an additional $40 billion of mortgage securities a month.

That’s pushed down bond yields, narrowed spreads and reduced homeowner borrowing costs -- squeezing earnings and dividends for mortgage REITs. Annaly said Oct. 16 it may repurchase up to $1.5 billion of shares over a year.

The shares declined 0.5 percent today as of 9:42 a.m. in New York, compared with a 1 percent drop for a Bloomberg index of mortgage REITs.

The firm’s name refers to Farrell’s ancestors in Ireland who were the reigning clan of Longford and ruled from Annaly Castle, which is incorporated in the crest of the REIT’s logo, Wake Forest Magazine reported.




Below is a short bio-data of Michael Farrell:

Mr. Farrell is the Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Annaly and FIDAC. Prior to founding Annaly and FIDAC, Mr. Farrell was a Managing Director for Wertheim Schroder and Co., Inc. in the Fixed Income Department. He has previously served on the Executive Committee of the Public Securities Association Primary Dealers Division and as Chairman of the Primary Dealers Operations Committee and its Mortgage Backed Securities Division. Mr. Farrell serves on the Executive Board of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), is Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Wake Forest Schools of Business, member of the Board of Trustees of Wake Forest University, a director of the U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Fund and Chairman of the Maeve Foundation.

WHY I ADMIRE SELF-MADE BUSINESSMAN MITT ROMNEY. This is not about politics. I admire self-made man Mitt Romney for his amazing success.

Win or lose in the USA presidential election in November 2012, ex-Governor Mitt Romney has my utmost respect for flourishing in business, in his wholesome family life and ultimately in his sincere faith in God!






Some of the reasons why I admire and respect Mitt Romney:

1. He is a self-made man, who built up success via hard work and resourcefulness.

2. He is a savvy businessman, who understands the importance and inherent superiority of the free enterprise system to propel socio-economic progress. I admire his advocacy of small businesses!

3. He turned around the Winter Olympics in Saly Lake City, USA.

4. He turned around Massachusetts state when he was its governor.

5. He turned around business companies he led.

6. He is a disciplined man with solid moral values.

7. He is a good family man who loves his wife with fidelity and good to their kids.

8. Although I'm not a Mormon like Romney, I admire his sincere and lifelong devotion to faith in God.








Apologies for the political opinions expressed below by the Forbes contributor, though articulate and thoughtful those opinions, but let us objectively examine and focus on Mitt Romney's solid track record as a self-made businessman and also as a capable leader?

Read on and share your comments to me here in this blog or via email?

Richard Finger, Contributor to Forbes magazine|

9/04/2012 @ 12:22PM |2,981 views

Why Is Success Being Punished?

see photosAP

Click for full photo gallery: Election 2012: Battleground States Where It’s All About Women

For the first time in my lifetime, business success is being vilified as smarmy and the attendant corollary, the profit motive is therefore sleazy as well. Democrats derisively promulgate Mitt Romney’s net worth estimated at $200 to $250 million inferring that this is a disqualifying factor to allow him to be Presidential material.  Throughout the history of our great nation, a self made man like Mitt Romney has been celebrated.

Indeed, he is a paradigm of success to be emulated. Are criticisms equally vociferous of very rich democratic politicians? Ex-presidential contender John Kerry, worth hundreds of millions, with his passel of estates, new $7 million yacht…….his most accretive act was a brief fifteen minute ceremony to the widow Heinz.

Seldom, no never, have I heard any criticism of the Kennedy wealth….and this despite the fact that the last two generations, other than politics, work little and the family lucre allegedly coalesced around illegal import of alcoholic beverages (aka bootlegging) during the prohibition era. Does noblesse oblige now have stronger merit than hard work?

Compare Romney who started from scratch, worked for years, scraped, fought hard and got “dirt under his fingernails” to earn his money, to the hypocrisy of elitist rich democrats who inherited or married into their fortunes. Is Romney really the one who is out of touch with ordinary Americans?

His Tax Rate

Romney has been roundly disparaged for paying such low effective income tax rates. The disdain implies there is something unethical for paying the statutory mandated rates. Much of the Romney’s income comes from dividends and capital gains.

Devoting much of the last dozen or so years as an unpaid public servant, (three years as Chairman of 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, donating his $1.4 mm salary and severance to charity and four years as Governor of Mass. )  it only makes sense that his estate would be managed to generate significant amounts of low tax rate income.

For 2010 and 2011 Romney’s returns show over $7 million in charitable donations on $42.5 million of income. This means they gave away 16.4% of their income and if this is added to their effective tax rates then the Romney’s paid in taxes and gave away over 30% of their money.

Perhaps Governor Romney believes that the charities of the private sector are much more efficient allocators of capital than our spendthrift federal government.

Different Business Models

This election is about a choice between two starkly different business models. On the left is the statist system where government becomes more and more intrusive into citizen’s lives. The most recent example being the to be implemented government mandated health care system. Statism means more and more welfare and subsidies.

When our current leader took office 40% of Americans were receiving some form of government aid. That figure has bulged up to 55%. Nearly 50% of all people pay no federal income taxes whatsoever. Continual higher taxes and more and more fiscal stimulus will be the answer to all problems.

More and more burdensome regulations will dot the business landscape. Our national debt will exceed $16 Trillion when the gavel falls Tuesday, in honor of the opening of the Democratic convention. What a symbolic start.

Our Debt to GDP ratio has soared from 70% to over 100% in less than four years. America looks more and more like continental Europe every day. And last time I looked there were still quite a few unresolved fiscal issues on their side of the Atlantic.

The facts are clear. As governor of Massachusetts, Governor Romney closed first a $650 million and the following year an estimated $3 billion deficit eventually achieving budget surplus. He slashed spending, eliminated some tax loopholes, reduced some local funding, and even cut some higher education dollars……it wasn’t a perfect solution but nothing is and at the end of the day it got done even with both legislative houses solidly Democratic. So Republicans and Democrats worked together.

Romney is a man who can compromise. The Salt Lake Olympics were running $379 million short of revenue goals and in the midst of a bribery scandal when Romney took charge.

Bottom line was the Games made a $100 million profit. So the other side of the ledger offers a man who has both a long history of private sector experience in addition to a proven record that he has the expertise and the will to change budget deficits into surpluses.

Bain Capital And The Campaign

Mitt Romney founded Bain Capital in 1984. It is the crown in his magnificently successful career. Of over 350 direct investments over 80% of companies have increased revenues. But this campaign seeks to denigrate his achievements.

Deflecting the debates away from the real issue, which are policies to achieve economic growth to childish attempts to focus on tax rates paid by a self made man shows signs of desperation? Tonight or tomorrow the Democrats have recruited a couple of Bain employees to speak.

While the lineup is uncertain, one is thought to be Jonathan Lavine, a democratic “money bundler” and managing partner at Sankaty Advisors, a Bain subsidiary. Another may be Steve Pagliuca, Bain managing director and part owner of the Boston Celtics.

Their supposed mission is to portray Governor Romney as a person who invested in companies to take all the money out, bankrupt them, destroy all the jobs and make millions for himself…..and all these nefarious deeds done with malice aforethought. That’s hardly the result at Staples and many, many of other success stories.

I am really interested to see how a guy like Mr. Pagliuca bashes Romney when he has made enough money at the company Romney founded, to be part owner of a sports franchise with a worth probably over $1 billion. I wonder if John Kerry is giving him a ride down to Charlotte on his Gulfstream.  

Do the private equity (PE) investments sometimes lose jobs or is PE a provider of capital to allow small businesses to thrive, expand and increase their worker base by exponential amounts? The answer is both. But net, net PE is far and away an enterprise that is a net creator of employment. You don’t have to believe me but you can’t hide from the statistics.

The giant pension fund CalSTERS has invested $1.25 billion with Bain Capital. Spokesman Ricardo Duran says that since “1988 Bain and private equity companies like them have outperformed every asset class which CalSTERS has allocated the cash of its 856,360 largely unionized members.”

From 1998 to 2008 Purdue, U.of Virginia, U.of California, U.of Michigan and U.of Washington trusted at least $425 million to Bain. Princeton, Yale, and Harvard all bastions of liberal thought have invested their endowment funds with Bain. Since 2000 another group of a dozen state pension groups including Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvaniahave given over $1.56 billion of retiree’s money to Bain.

Would these giant pensions and endowments continually over 10 and 20 year periods continue pouring assets into a money losing venture? The answer is unequivocally no….of course not. These men and women who are the money managers are fiduciaries, so as trustees they are bound to protect their employee base.

Please note the wonderful irony in all of this; Bain Capital providing consistent investment returns to pension funds, in which many of the retirees’ were heavily democrat union members.

Great Hypocrisy

If PE is “Darth Vader” -like evil empire, then why would the current administration seek help from Washington based PE firm Carlyle Group to save a Philadelphiaoil refiner owned by Sunoco (SU) slated for closure? Carlyle will invest $200 million to upgrade the facility which will protect the 850 union workers slated for layoff before November elections.

Naturally, EPA emissions standards have been relaxed which was part of the reason the refinery was closing in the first place. It is interesting, no it is the apogee of hypocrisy, that Carlyle is defined as “good” PE and Bain the unsavory.

It is sad commentary that our current leadership must attempt to belittle a great American success story to deflect focus from his own failed policies.

Has the ethos of our country shifted to such extent that the citizenry cannot hail a man who not only has been made his wealth honestly but also donates millions of dollars annually?

As a recent bumper sticker articulated so well, “I really don’t care where he was born, it’s where he lives is the problem.”

Zara founder now richer than Warren Buffett, 3rd wealthiest billionaire in the world---self-made man Amancio Ortega of Spain!

No wonder when I had my exclusive interview with Japan's wealthiest tycoon and the founder of Uniqlo Tadashi Yanai, he told me his ambition is to surpass Zara fashion brand. Now I understand and know why. Read on...

Congratulations! Bloomberg recently published its Billionaire Index, and it has ranked self-made entrepreneur Amancio Ortega as the third richest man in the world with a net worth of US$47.4 billion.

The media-shy and low-profile Spanish businessman just surpassed the world-famous Warren Buffet, but Ortega still needs to earn $16 billion to eclipse another legend Bill Gates fopr world's No. 2 richest rank.

I'm originally torn between where to post this news, in the Will Soon Flourish blog on success or in the Will Soon Fashion blog.

Since the main phanomenon here in this news is not just Zara as a fashion brand or even the shared second article below on the inherited billions of the Zara and Prada heiresses, but my focus here in this post is to celebrate the success of the Zara founder as innovative and self-made entrepreneur plus the amazing rise in riches and high fashion purchasing power of such emerging market nations like China and Brazil, I've decided to post this item under the Will Soon Flourish blog celebrating flourishing success!

Congratulations not only to the founder of the global Zara fashion brand, but also to the new emerging economic powers China and Brazil---your new-rich consumers and buyers have helped some old world Europe families become so much richer despite the troubles in the Eurozone and USA economies.



Here's a short background on the world's new third wealthiest billionaire is Amancio Ortega of Zara.



Born in León in March, 1936, Amancio Ortega y Gaona is a self-made-man who started out at age 14 as a gofer in a shirt store in La Coruña, Galicia (north-western Spain).

In 1963 he started Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), which made bathrobes.

In 1975 he opened the first store in what would grow into the enormously popular global chain of  fashion boutiques called Zara.



(Images of Zara fasion)












Below is the Bloomberg news report on some of the young scions of the Zara and Prada fashion dynasties of Europe, and their fortunes courtesy of the rising buying power of such "economic miracles" as China and Brazil.

(Image of Prada fashion below)




Zara & Prada heiresses--- Hidden European Fashion Billionaires Undressed on China

By Robert LaFranco - Oct 19, 2012 7:02 AM GMT+0800

How to Become Very Rich From Europe's Debt Crisis

Surging demand for $100 Zara dresses and $3,000 Prada handbags in emerging markets has created three new billionaires who hail from countries at the center of the European debt crisis.

Enlarge image

Hidden Billionaires Unzipped From Europe With $950 China Shoes

Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg

A Prada SpA store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in Milan.

A Prada SpA store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in Milan. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg

Enlarge image

Hidden Billionaires Unzipped From Europe With $950 China Shoes

Thomas Lee/Bloomberg

Shoppers stand in front of a Prada SpA store on Canton Road in Hong Kong, China.

Shoppers stand in front of a Prada SpA store on Canton Road in Hong Kong, China. Photographer: Thomas Lee/Bloomberg

Enlarge image

Hidden Billionaires Unzipped From Europe With $950 China Shoes

Lam Yik Fei/Bloomberg

Customers queue to enter a Prada SpA store in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong, China.

Customers queue to enter a Prada SpA store in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong, China. Photographer: Lam Yik Fei/Bloomberg

Sandra Ortega Mera, the 44-year-old daughter of Amancio Ortega, Europe’s richest man, is worth $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. She owns 1 percent of Arteixo, Spain-based Inditex SA (ITX), the world’s largest clothing retailer and owner of the Zara clothing chain, whose shares have gained 58 percent this year as unemployment in its home country hovers above 20 percent.

Marina Prada and her brother Alberto Prada Bianchi -- two grandchildren of Prada SpA (1913) founder Mario Prada -- are worth $2.6 billion each. Shares of the Italian luxury-goods maker are up 75 percent year-to-date in Hong Kong trading. The Italian government said in September the country’s gross domestic product will probably fall 2.4 percent this year.

“You can’t really get more of a difficult home market than Italy and Spain right now,” said Rahul Sharma, managing director at Neev Capital, a London-based retail advisory firm. “For both companies, the ability to deliver a sense of freshness to their customers has been a big part of their success in Europe. When customers feel like they are seeing something different they are a lot less price sensitive. That becomes aspirational when you go to Asia where the product seems more exotic.”

None of the three billionaires has appeared on an international wealth ranking. Jose Leyte, a spokesman for Sandra Ortega, said she declined to comment on her net worth. A spokesman for Prada in Milan said the siblings also declined to comment.

China, Brazil

Defying Spain’s and Italy’s ravaging debt loads and the threat of impending fiscal austerity measures, shares of Inditex and Prada are rising on the demand for their products in countries such as China and Brazil.
Zara’s pricing is an enticement for cost-conscious shoppers searching for affordable fashion. The chain offers items such as $17 scarves and $60 skirts. Inditex, which operates eight retail lines, opened 166 stores in about 100 cities during the first half, including 32 locations in China, the world’s second- largest economy. Zara’s first online store in China opened in September.

Inditex said last month that earnings rose 32 percent to 944 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the first half. Revenue increased 17 percent to more than 7 billion euros on the strength of its global market expansion, the company said.

$950 Shoes

Prada, which sells $3,000 handbags and $950 shoes, has benefited from Chinese consumers’ hunger for luxury goods. The company reported last month that first-half profit surged almost 60 percent to 289 million euros on a 19 percent revenue gain. Revenue of more than 1.5 billion euros was fueled by a 45 percent sales increase in the Asia Pacific region.

“We understand consumers from all over the world,” said Patrizio Bertelli, the company’s 66-year-old billionaire CEO, on the company’s earnings call Sept. 24. “For instance, Chinese consumers are much more fashion-conscious and aware of what they wear than they were a few years ago. Consumers globally need to be enticed to buy.”

Mario Prada opened his first luxury goods store in Milan in 1912. The store sold traveling trunks, leather handbags, beauty cases and leather accessories. In 1919, it became an official supplier to the Italian royal family. Prada emerged as an international brand in the 1970s, when his granddaughter Miuccia Prada led the company’s design strategy while Bertelli ran sales and distribution. Miuccia Prada, 64, is the company’s chairwoman. Bertelli is her husband.

Accumulated Cash

Marina and Alberto Prada, who are Miuccia’s older siblings and whose ages couldn’t be confirmed, work as consultants to the company: Marina in public relations; Alberto in location scouting and distribution. They each own 12 percent stakes in Prada worth more than $2 billion through three Milan-based family holding companies: Bellatrix, Gipafin and Prada Holding BV.

Since 2009, Marina and Alberto have each accumulated a cash portfolio estimated at almost $200 million, including proceeds from dividends and shares sold in last year’s initial public offering.
Miuccia Prada and Bertelli each own 28 percent of the company. Their stakes are valued at about $5.7 billion. They have both earned more than $500 million from compensation, dividends and share sales since the IPO.

Women’s Bathrobes

Inditex sold shares to the public in 2001, enriching both Amancio Ortega and his now ex-wife, Rosalia Mera. Mera, 68, who co-founded the company making women’s bathrobes out of the couple’s home in 1963, controls more than 4 percent of Inditex through Rosp Corunna, a closely held investment company based in La Coruna, Spain. Mera owns 86 percent of the shares held by the investment company; the couple’s daughter, Sandra Ortega, owns the remaining 14 percent.

While Sandra Ortega isn’t involved in Inditex management, she manages Rosp Corunna with her mother. The holding company sold about $550 million of Inditex stock in the IPO, and used the proceeds to fund a portfolio of startup companies, including Zeltia SA, a publicly traded Spanish pharmaceutical company, in which it owns a 5 percent stake.

Passing Buffett

Like her father, who passed Warren Buffett to become the world’s third-richest person in August, Sandra Ortega prefers to stay out of the limelight. A trained psychologist, she lives in Galicia on Spain’s northwest coast with her husband and three children.

Sandra Ortega also serves as vice president of the Fundacion Paideia Galiza, which focuses on helping disabled people integrate into general society. The foundation was inspired by her brother, Marcos, who is mentally impaired.

Retail accounts for almost half of the 20 biggest fortunes in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Amancio Ortega’s fortune now stands at $53.6 billion, more than $10 billion ahead of Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the IKEA furniture chain. Europe’s next three largest fortunes include L’Oreal SA cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who has a net worth of $25.5 billion, as well as Hennes & Mauritz AB chairman Stefan Persson and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA founder Bernard Arnault, both of whom have a net worth of about $25 billion.