Family Office for $54 Billion Zara Fortune Goes on Deal Spree (1)

Zara founder Amancio Ortega’s personal investment firm is on a quest to diversify one of the world’s biggest fortunes away from linen suits, pearl-beaded handbags and feathered sandals.

Fueled by proceeds from his fashion empire, the billionaire’s family office, Pontegadea, has gone on a deals spree that shows no sign of abating. In the past year, it accumulated stakes in energy ventures worth more than $1 billion and spent almost $2 billion on real estate globally.

Amancio Ortega.

Photographer: Miguel Riopa/AFP

Pontegadea, which oversees dividends that Ortega receives from the retailer he founded almost six decades ago, has been ramping up investments outside ...