Zara founder buys former BBC office building in London

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish billionaire and Zara founder Amancio Ortega has bought a building in central London that formerly housed offices of British broadcaster the BBC for 82 million pounds ($102 million), his private firm Pontegadea said on Wednesday.

The transaction comes after Ortega's purchase last month of a luxury residential building with 120 apartments for rent in Dublin, Ireland, for around 100 million euros ($109 million).

Ortega's firm has also acquired luxury residential and office buildings in the United States and Canada in recent years as part of a strategy to invest in multiple real estate assets.

Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias, which earlier reported the deal, said Pontegadea had agreed to buy from Abrdn fund the office building near the Oxford Circus junction on 33 Foley Street in the British capital's trendy Fitzrovia area.

The building was a former BBC office that was later redeveloped, the report added.

($1 = 0.8069 pounds)

(Reporting by Corina Pons Editing by David Latona and Mark Potter)