Zara founder and multi-billionaire Amancio Ortega has moved a majority stake in the firm that owns the global clothing retailer into a holding company to ensure the firm remains in his family after his death.
The 81-year-old moved 50.01 percent of Zara's parent company Inditex into Pontegadea Investments in December 2015, Reuters reports citing corporate filings in Spain's Mercantile Registry.
Ortega also moved more than $6.5 billion in commercial real estate into the holding company.
His heirs now stand to inherit stakes in Pontegadea, which holds assets worth more than $60 billion.
A source told Reuters "the absolute priority for Ortega is to guarantee the future of the company, to ensure a controlling stake in Inditex that will not be diluted".
Amancio Ortega is the richest person in Europe and the fourth richest in the world with a net worth of $74.1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Over the past 40 years he has grown his retail empire from a single Zara store in his hometown of La Coruna to a global clothing group with more than 7000 stores and 150,000 employees.
A spokesman for Pontegadea declined to comment and an Inditex spokesman said the company did not comment on matters related to its shareholders.