December 30, 2011
MADRID (AFP) - Spanish construction firm FCC sold a landmark Madrid skyscraper to a real estate firm owned by the owner of the Zara clothing chain for 400 million euros ($521 million), FCC said on Thursday.
The company sold the Torre Picasso to Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, which belongs to Amancia Ortega, Spain's richest man and the founder of fashion group Inditex which owns the popular Zara brand, FCC said in a regulatory filing.
From it inauguration in 1988 until 2007, the Torre Picasso was the tallest building in the Spanish capital.
Designed by Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki, the creator of the doomed Twin Towers in New York, the 157-metre (515-foot) high building has 43 floors and a helipad on the roof.
FCC said it also sold two other buildings in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, for 60 million euros.
"The funds obtained through these divestments will contribute to debt reduction while freeing up means to continue to finance the core activities of the firm," the company said in the regulatory filing.
FCC posted a net profit of 175.8 million euros during the first nine months of the year, a 12.4 percent drop over the same period a year ago.
