Coveted and criticised, Latin America�s rich multiply

AFP, MONTEVIDEO: They buy 10 Porsches a day and travel the world by private jet, toting their Louis Vuitton bags and leaving behind a faint scent of Chanel.
They are Latin America’s super-rich, and they are multiplying faster than anywhere in the world, coveted by luxury brands keen to tap their buying power, but criticized for paying low taxes in a region plagued by inequality.
Latin America, a region of some 600 million people, is home to nearly 15,000 “ultra high net worth” individuals, or people with fortunes of at least $30 million, according to luxury industry consultancy Wealth-X. The number rose five per cent last year, while the number of billionaires rose to 151, a 38 per cent increase.
That was the fastest growth rate for billionaires of any region on Earth.
Natixis Global Asset Management, a firm that specializes in managing large fortunes, recently launched its first Latin American offices, in Mexico City and Montevideo.
“We’ve clearly identified it as one of the regions where individual wealth is in an exceptional growth phase,” said Sophie del Campo, head of the firm’s Iberian division in Madrid.
Ensconced behind the high walls of their luxury villas, the mining magnates, telecoms tycoons, large landholders and others who make up Latin America’s uppermost crust can be less visible than the region’s poor.
But they are the flipside of its intractable inequality problem.
Their lavish lifestyles and growing numbers are attracting keen interest from the global luxury industry, eager to expand to new markets and court new customers in existing ones.
Porsche is one example. Since arriving in Latin America 15 years ago, the German sports car maker has increased annual sales to the region from less than 300 vehicles to nearly 3,900 vehicles, said George Wills, president of Porsche Latin America, which is based in Miami. The region’s largest economies, Mexico and Brazil, remain the “volume drivers,” he said.
“But if you look in terms of the markets themselves, the markets that are enjoying good growth are markets like Peru, Colombia, Panama... with 60 per cent growth in some of them.”
According to market research firm Euromonitor, the Latin American luxury market will total $26.5 billion in 2019, up 88.8 per cent from 2014 -- the strongest growth in the world. The boom applies to big-ticket luxuries, too.
Mexico is the world’s second-largest market for private jets, behind the United States, with Brazil poised to surpass it within the next decade, according to a recent market study by Brazilian jetmaker Embraer.
‘Fiscal justice’
The ultra-wealthy have varied profiles, from Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim, whose $77 billion fortune is the second-largest in the world according to Forbes, to Brazilian beer magnate Jorge Paulo Lemann (net worth: $25 billion), Chilean mining scion Iris Fontbona ($13.5 billion), to Colombian banker Luis Carlos Sarmiento ($13.4 billion).
What is clear is that their numbers are growing, in some cases because family fortunes have been divided up among heirs, said Mykolas Rambus, the chief executive of Singapore-based Wealth-X.
“The amount of wealthy people globally is booming and that is true in Latin America: it’s growing at a very good pace,” he said.

Coveted and criticised, Latin America�s rich multiply

AFP, MONTEVIDEO: They buy 10 Porsches a day and travel the world by private jet, toting their Louis Vuitton bags and leaving behind a faint scent of Chanel. They are Latin Americas super-rich, and they are multiplying faster than anywhere in the world, coveted by luxury brands keen to tap their buying power, but criticized for paying low taxes in a region plagued by inequality. Latin America, a region of some 600 million people, is home to nearly 15,000 ultra high net worth individuals, or people with fortunes of at least $30 million, according to luxury industry consultancy Wealth-X. The number rose five per cent last year, while the number of billionaires rose to 151, a 38 per cent increase. That was the fastest growth rate for billionaires of any region on Earth. Natixis Global Asset Management, a firm that specializes in managing large fortunes, recently launched its first Latin American offices, in Mexico City and Montevideo. Weve clearly identified it as one of the regions where individual wealth is in an exceptional growth phase, said Sophie del Campo, head of the firms Iberian division in Madrid. Ensconced behind the high walls of their luxury villas, the mining magnates, telecoms tycoons, large landholders and others who make up Latin Americas uppermost crust can be less visible than the regions poor. But they are the flipside of its intractable inequality problem. Their lavish lifestyles and growing numbers are attracting keen interest from the global luxury industry, eager to expand to new markets and court new customers in existing ones. Porsche is one example. Since arriving in Latin America 15 years ago, the German sports car maker has increased annual sales to the region from less than 300 vehicles to nearly 3,900 vehicles, said George Wills, president of Porsche Latin America, which is based in Miami. The regions largest economies, Mexico and Brazil, remain the volume drivers, he said. But if you look in terms of the markets themselves, the markets that are enjoying good growth are markets like Peru, Colombia, Panama... with 60 per cent growth in some of them. According to market research firm Euromonitor, the Latin American luxury market will total $26.5 billion in 2019, up 88.8 per cent from 2014 -- the strongest growth in the world. The boom applies to big-ticket luxuries, too. Mexico is the worlds second-largest market for private jets, behind the United States, with Brazil poised to surpass it within the next decade, according to a recent market study by Brazilian jetmaker Embraer. Fiscal justice The ultra-wealthy have varied profiles, from Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim, whose $77 billion fortune is the second-largest in the world according to Forbes, to Brazilian beer magnate Jorge Paulo Lemann (net worth: $25 billion), Chilean mining scion Iris Fontbona ($13.5 billion), to Colombian banker Luis Carlos Sarmiento ($13.4 billion). What is clear is that their numbers are growing, in some cases because family fortunes have been divided up among heirs, said Mykolas Rambus, the chief executive of Singapore-based Wealth-X. The amount of wealthy people globally is booming and that is true in Latin America: its growing at a very good pace, he said.