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Juan Abelló Gallo (born 1941) is a Spanish

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...

businessman and art collector. In March 2021, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' estimated his wealth at $3 billion. In 2023, ''CEO World Magazine'' ranked him as the seventh richest individual in Spain with $2.8 billion in estimated net worth.

Early life

Juan Abelló was born in 1941 in Madrid, the son of a pharmacist father, Juan Abello Pascual. He has a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid (1963), and a doctorate in pharmacy (1978) from

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

Career

In 1966 Abelló was appointed Managing Director of Antibióticos, S.A., the family group founded by his pharmacist father, Juan Abello Pascual, in 1919. The company had obtained the first licence in Spain in 1934 to manufacture

opioid Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioi ...

-derived medication. In 1986, he led the disposal of Antibióticos and other family pharma assets (maintaining Alergia e Inmunología Abelló, S.A. and Alcaloides, S.A.) to

Montedison Edison S.p.A. is an Italian electric utility company headquartered in Milan. The company was established in 1884 and acquired by Electricité de France in 2012. Edison employs more than 5,000 people in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. ...

. In 1990 he founded Torreal, a family-owned global investment firm with more than 25 portfolio companies, diversified across various segments and geographies. In 2013, through Torreal, he invested in Investindustrial which controlled 37,5% of the automobile manufacturer

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated ...

. In 2018, through Torreal and in a joint-venture with the British investment fund GHO, Abelló started the company of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...

-derived products Linneo Health. In 2018, he named his son Miguel Abelló Gamazo executive vice-president of Torreal, and then president of the company in 2020.

Art collector

Abelló owns about 500 works of art, including pieces by

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El ...

, Edgar Degas,

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

, and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

. Abello owns one of the last large triptychs painted by

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

, ''Triptych 1983'' (1983), and a small triptych by Bacon, ''Three Studies for a Portrait of Peter Beard'' (1975).

Personal life

Abelló is married to Ana Isabel Gamazo y Hohenlohe-Langenburg, grand-daughter of Prince Max Egon of

Hohenlohe-Langenburg Hohenlohe-Langenburg () was a German county and later principality in the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the current northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, around Langenburg. Since the medieval times this small state was ruled by the Hou ...

. They have four children. He is also an avid

deer hunter Deer hunting is hunting for deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer huntin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abello, Juan 1941 births Living people Spanish art collectors Spanish billionaires 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish businesspeople People from Madrid Complutense University of Madrid alumni Members of the Board of Directors of the Banco Santander