Zara founder Ortega buys Barcelona office building for $283 million, sources say

By Corina Pons

MADRID (Reuters) -Zara founder Amancio Ortega has bought an office building in Barcelona from Blackstone for 250 million euros ($283 million), two sources familiar with the transaction said on Friday.

Blackstone sold the 28,000-square-metre building on Avenida Diagonal, currently rented by the Spanish editorial business Planeta, to Ortega's investment vehicle Pontegadea, the sources said.

Pontegadea and Blackstone did not comment about the agreement.

Pontegadea, which owns more than $20 billion of real estate assets, has invested in several office towers and luxury buildings in Europe and North America.

It has also diversified its portfolio by buying energy and logistics assets.

Ortega controls 59.29% of Zara-owner Inditex through Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler Participaciones.

($1 = 0.8826 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons; editing by Charlie Devereux and Hugh Lawson)