What is Gregorio Perez Companc's Net Worth?
Gregorio Perez Companc is Argentina's wealthiest man who has a net worth of $1.5 billion. Commonly known as "Don Gregorio" or "Goyo", Perez Companc was born Jorge Gregorio Bazán in Buenos Aires, in 1934. In 1945, he was adopted by Margarita Companc de Pérez Acuña, a local socialite, who enrolled him at the La Salle college preparatory school, which he left before graduating. In 1964, Perez Companc married heiress Maria del Carmen "Munchi" Sundblad Beccar Varela. Four year after becoming a married man, he was named as director of the Banco Río de La Plata (at the time of the country's largest, private-sector banks) after it was purchased by his family. However, he made most of his fortune as head of Petrolera Perez Companc, an oil and gas conglomerate first established by Gregorio's adoptive father in 1946. In 1993, he purchased a controlling stake in Banco Río de la Plata from his siblings and four years later he sold his shares to Spanish banking giant Banco Santander.
In the period from 1990 to 1994, Petrolera Perez Companc extended its domestic activities in the oil business as well as in a number of other industries through participation in the country's privatization program inducted by President Carlos Menem. The company continued to grow and by 1996 it had generated sales of US$1.41 billion. The Compancs accumulated their wealth as well, and they invested in forming a new public holding company, PC Holdings S.A., in 1998. Later that year, the family purchased a 68% share in local food giant Molinos Río de la Plata, which is a diversified maker of pasta, flour and frozen vegetables. In December 2009, Perez withdrew from active involvement in the business, leaving his entire stake in food giant Molinos Rio de la Plata to his seven children. Apart from the above, Perez is a devoted collector of old cars and reportedly he paid over $9 million for a Ferrari.
