Enrique Bañuelos

Enrique Bañuelos
Born	Enrique Bañuelos de Castro 14th February 1966[citation needed] Sagunto, Spain[citation needed]
Residence	Valencia, Spain[citation needed]
Nationality	Spanish
Alma mater	Universitat de València
Occupation	Businessman Real estate developer[citation needed]
Known for	Founder of Astroc Mediterraneo[citation needed]
Board member of	Veremonte, AGRE S.A.[citation needed]
Children	2

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Bañuelos and the second or maternal family name is de Castro.

Enrique Bañuelos de Castro is a Spanish businessman and entrepreneur.^{[citation needed]} Bañuelos is one of twelve Spanish nationals to hold the position of being listed in Forbes World's Billionaires ranking (nº 655 in 2010). As of 2008 he was the 95th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $1.3 billion, a drop of $6.4 billion from the previous year's list.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Bañuelos was born in Sagunto, Valencia (Spain) on 14th February 1966. When he was 9 years old, his father died in an accident in the steelworks where he worked.^{[citation needed]}

Bañuelos gained degrees in Law and Business Studies and set up his first company (dealing in honey and its by-products) at the age of 16. His real estate group was set up in the Mediterranean region and developed some 17,400,000m2, building around 50,000 properties, aimed at middle class buyers as second homes (average prices for these properties were around 120,000euros). 2006 saw the merger of several of his companies and the creation of ASTROC. The property and financial crises brought about the sale of ASTROC and a new focus for Bañuelos´ activities in international markets.^{[citation needed]}

Bañuelos is married with two children.

Investments in Brazil

In 2008, Bañuelos entered the Brazilian market, acquiring shares in AGRA, a Brasil Stock Exchange listed real estate company. In 2009 he bought into Abyara and Klabin Segal (both also listed), merging the 3 companies to create the AGRE S.A., the leading real estate group in sales. At the same time, Bañuelos has joined forces with the French chain Accor and the Arab group Jumeirah to invest in the hotel industry in Brazil, host of the 2016 Olympic Games.^{[citation needed]}

The Valencian entrepreneur also has interests in other sectors within Brazil; in 2010 he plans to invest 2 billion (2,000,000,000) Brazilian reals (some 880 million euros) in assets and businesses in the healthcare, energy, infrastructures, environmental and food industries.^{[citation needed]}

Lawsuits

In March 2009 Enrique Bañuelos was cleared of charges of the possible use of inside information regarding a possible takeover bid for Fadesa, as it was considered that the economic press had already published articles relating to the issue.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007 a lawsuit was filed by lawyer Felipe Izquierdo against Enrique Bañuelos for his management of Astroc. This was rejected by the Spanish National Court but to avoid others lawsuits he had to move to UK where is his main residence.^{[citation needed]}

Hobbies

Enrique Bañuelos is an avid jogger and runner of half marathons. He has a passion for contemporary arts and in particular photography; through his foundation and in conjunction with the Valencian Institute of Modern Art (IVAM) he has promoted various exhibitions in, among other cities, Valencia, New York, London and Peking.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• www.forbes.com-The World's Billionaires (2007)
• www.forbes.com-The World's Billionaires (2008)
• www.forbes.com-The World's Billionaires (2009)
• www.forbes.com-The World's Billionaires (2010)
• The spanish Conquistador Exame, 18 November 2009.
• Lawsuits Información Alicante, 7 September 2007.