Alex Meruelo, Cuban multimillionaire, bought the Illa d'en Colom near Menorca in the Balearic Islands

June 10, 2018

His parents lost an island, Cuba, but he already has his own. Cuban-American millionaire Alex Meruelo closed the purchase of Illa d'en Colom, about 100 meters from Menorca, in the Balearic Islands.

In this tourist paradise in the Mediterranean, where the most well-known island is Ibiza, although most agree that the most beautiful is Mallorca, this son of Cuban exiles who arrived in the United States in 1961 now has his own corner of the world.

The plans for the island purchase by Meruelo Investments S.L., a subsidiary in Spain of Meruelo Group, were finalized on June 3, 2018.

The island was owned by a family that bought it in 1904 for just over 7,000 pesetas, it was being sold in 2016 for more than five million euros, according to the Spanish real estate portal Fotocasa. Meruelo's company purchased it for 3.2 million euros, and won it in a bidding war with a French businessman who insisted on buying it until the last minute, but only offered 3.1 million euros.

The 143-acre island is located in a natural park protected for its ecological richness. It has no electricity, but does have access to drinking water, and its only structures are a six-bedroom residence, a cabin, and a small boathouse on the seashore. It also has two public beaches with white sand.

Meruelo, with a fortune of more than $14,000 million, is a bank shareholder in several institutions in California, is owner of several radio stations and a casino in Las Vegas and another in Nevada. He lives in Newport Beach, California, but also has a residence in the exclusive Indian Creek, in Miami Beach.

The sale of Illa d'en Colom to Álex Meruelo has been delayed due to disagreements among the 16 co-owners of the islet, belonging to different branches of the Roca family. Seven of them blocked the operation, but the sale was finally closed and formalized before a notary last Wednesday. Even though the new owner offered three million euros, the amount he finally paid has not been disclosed.

Illa d'en Colom, with a surface area of 58 hectares, has been for sale for the last thirty years and its market price has been progressively reduced. In 2010 it was for sale for six million euros. In 2016 the price was reduced to 5.25 million and later to 3.5 million.