Gregorio Perez Companc (born August 23, 1934) also known as “Don Gregorio” or “Goyo,” is Argentina’s wealthiest individual, with an estimated net worth of US$1.57 billion in 2012.
Background
He was born Jorge Gregorio Bazán in Buenos Aires, in 1934. He was adopted in 1945 by Margarita Companc de Pérez Acuña, a local socialite, and enrolled at the La Salle college preparatory school, though he left before graduating. He married Maria del Carmen “Munchi” Sundblad Beccar Varela, an heiress, in 1964, and in 1968, was named director of the Banco Río de La Plata (at the time of the country’s largest, private-sector banks), following its purchase by his family. He built much of his fortune, however, as head of Petrolera Pérez Companc, a family-based conglomerate in oil and gas that was first established by Gregorio’s adoptive father in 1946.
Pérez Companc purchased a controlling stake in Banco Río de la Plata from his siblings in 1993, and would sell his shares to Spanish banking giant Banco Santander in 1997. Between 1990 and 1994, the company expanded its domestic activities in the oil business and in a number of other industries through participation in the country’s privatization programme initiated by President Carlos Menem. By 1996, Pérez Companc S.A. had consolidated sales of US$1.41 billion. The family strengthened its hand in 1998 by forming a new public holding company, PC Holdings S.A., and later that year, acquired a 68% share in local food giant Molinos Río de la Plata from the traditional agribusiness house, Bunge y Born, for US$380 million. Molinos Río de la Plata, which sells Luchetti’s pasta, Cocinero oils and Nobleza Gaucha yerba mate (among numerous brands), is one of Argentina’s leading processed foods companies, earning roughly US$850 million in revenues in 2009.
Summary
| Gregorio Perez Companc | |
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Gregorio Pérez Companc
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| Born | 23 December 1934 Buenos Aires City, Argentina |
| Occupation | Principal shareholder of Molinos Río de la Plata |
| Net worth |  US$1.53 billion (May 2017) |
| Spouse(s) | María Carmen Sundblad Beccar Varela |
| Children | Margarita, Jorge, Luis, Rosario, Pilar, Cecilia, Pablo and Catalina |
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