Industrialist Villar Mir glimpses new dawn in Spain

By Elisabeth O’Leary and Jose Elías Rodríguez MADRID (Reuters) – Billionaire industrialist Juan Miguel Villar Mir has been buying into Spain’s battered property and wind power sectors, marking a change in domestic sentiment after a six-year crisis. The 82-year-old Villar Mir, the chairman of builder OHL and its private conglomerate parent Grupo Villar Mir, prospered abroad during the crisis. With the economy growing at its strongest pace since 2007, he is now borrowing to fund acquisitions that may signal a new wave of investment in Spain. “Spain is an investment opportunity now because things are cheap and the economy is recovering and hardly anyone has realized,” the engineer told Reuters from a plush office near the top of his Torre Espacio, one of four landmark skyscrapers that dominate Madrid’s skyline.