Chile is home to some of Latin America's largest fortunes, and most of that wealth is not hidden in private vaults - it trades on public stock exchanges every day. According to Forbes' 2026 billionaires ranking, Chile has six billionaires with a combined net worth of around US$71 billion, placing the country third in Latin America behind Mexico and Brazil. For a retail investor, the interesting part is that you can buy shares in many of the companies these families control.
This guide walks through the four best-documented billionaire families in Chile and the listed companies behind their money - what each business actually does, where it trades, and what a beginner should understand before treating any of them as an investment. This is education, not a recommendation to buy any specific share.
Why Chile's family fortunes matter to everyday investors
Chile's economy is unusually concentrated: a handful of family-controlled conglomerates dominate mining, banking, energy and consumer goods. Many of them are listed on the Santiago stock exchange (Bolsa de Santiago), and some trade abroad too. That means the same companies driving these fortunes are, in principle, accessible to ordinary investors through a Chilean broker or, in some cases, an international one.
A word of caution before the names. A large family stake in a company is not a reason to buy it. Controlling shareholders can prioritise their own long-term goals over minority investors, and a stock's past growth tells you nothing guaranteed about its future. Treat what follows as a map of who owns what, not a shopping list.
The Luksic family: copper, banking and beverages
The Luksic family, whose fortune is held by matriarch Iris Fontbona after the death of founder Andrónico Luksic, is by far the wealthiest in Chile. The two main data providers disagree on the exact figure: Forbes' 2026 ranking put the family at about US$52.6 billion (roughly #35 in the world, up around 87% on the prior year), while Bloomberg's Billionaires Index in January 2026 estimated closer to US$55.8 billion (around #31 globally and third in Latin America). Both numbers are enormous; the gap reflects different methodologies for valuing private and listed holdings.
The family controls its empire through the holding company Quiñenco (QUINENCO.SN). The crown jewel is copper: Antofagasta plc is one of the world's larger copper miners and, unusually for a Chilean fortune, is listed in London rather than Santiago. On the domestic side, the Luksic interests include Banco de Chile (one of the country's biggest banks), the beverage group CCU (beer, soft drinks and more) and the shipping company CSAV. It is a genuinely diversified group spanning mining, banking, drinks and transport.
The Ponce Lerou family: the lithium name
Julio Ponce Lerou is the name most tied to the global lithium story. Forbes' 2026 list valued his fortune at about US$3.9 billion. His wealth centres on a controlling interest - roughly 17% - in SQM (Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile), one of the world's leading producers of lithium and specialty fertilisers derived from the mineral-rich Atacama.
SQM is one of the more accessible names on this list for international investors, since it trades as an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) on the New York Stock Exchange in addition to its Santiago listing. If you want to understand how a Chilean company can appear on a US exchange, our explainer on BDRs and ADRs is a useful starting point. Lithium is also a famously volatile commodity - prices have swung violently in recent years - so SQM's share price can be a rough ride.
The Yarur family: a banking dynasty
The Yarur family, led by Luis Enrique Yarur Rey, built its US$2.5 billion fortune (Forbes 2026) on banking. Their vehicle is Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI.SN) one of Chile's largest private banks and an institution the family has controlled for generations. Bci has expanded well beyond Chile, notably into the United States, making it one of the more internationally minded Chilean banks.
Bank stocks like Bci tend to move with interest rates, credit growth and the health of the domestic economy. They can pay meaningful dividends, but they are also sensitive to recessions and loan losses. That makes understanding a bank's fundamentals more important than simply noting that a wealthy family sits behind it.
The Angelini family: energy, fuel and forestry
The Angelini family rounds out the group, with Roberto Angelini valued at about US$2.0 billion and Patricia Angelini at about US$1.6 billion in Forbes' 2026 ranking. They control the holding company AntarChile (ANTARCHILE.SN), which in turn controls Empresas Copec - the group behind Copec, Chile's dominant fuel and energy distributor, alongside major forestry and pulp operations.
Copec is a household name for anyone who has driven through Chile, and Empresas Copec is a staple of the Santiago exchange. Because the group straddles fuel, energy and forestry, its results are tied to global commodity cycles - oil prices, pulp prices and demand from China - as much as to the Chilean consumer.
How to think about these companies as an investor
These four families illustrate the shape of the Chilean market: heavily weighted toward mining, banking and commodities, and dominated by long-standing family conglomerates. That concentration is a double-edged sword. It has produced stable, cash-generative businesses, but it also means the local index leans on a few sectors and a few controlling shareholders.
For a beginner, the healthier lens is diversification rather than trophy-hunting for billionaire-linked stocks. Buying a single Chilean conglomerate concentrates your money in one company, one country and often one commodity. A broad fund that holds many companies spreads that risk, and pairing local exposure with international assets helps guard against currency risk from a weaker Chilean peso. No investment is risk-free, but breadth has historically been kinder to beginners than betting on a single name.
If you do want exposure to any of these businesses, do the homework: read the company's financial statements, understand how much of the vote the controlling family holds, and check the fees your broker charges - especially for foreign listings such as Antofagasta in London or SQM's ADR in New York. The billionaire behind a stock is a fun fact, not an investment thesis.
Legal Notice: Education, not advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns. Investing always involves risks.
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