Ronaldo invests over €37m in Pestana hotel group

Cristiano Ronaldo is to invest more than €37 million in the Pestana hotel group to create four new hotels with the "CR7" logo in Portugal, Madrid and New York. The value of the project is €75 million.

The first two hotels will open next year on the Portuguese island of Madeira and in Lisbon, Ronaldo said yesterday at a press conference in Lisbon. The third and fourth are scheduled to open in Madrid and New York City in 2017, he said.

The 30-year-old footballer said: “This is the biggest project of my life. It’s an investment in a completely different area, but, as you can imagine, the goal is to take care of my future and the future of my son.”

Ronaldo will invest half of the sum and own 50 per cent of the joint venture, according to Dionisio Pestana, the group’s chairman.

The Portuguese international purchased an apartment in the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue for $18.5 million earlier this year, the New York Post reported.

“I’m and ambitious person and a fighter,” Ronaldo said. “Obviously this is a completely different world. My world is playing soccer but we all know that life won’t always be like this.”

Madeira-based Grupo Pestana is Portugal’s biggest hotel operator. Ronaldo was also born in Madeira, which is home to the Cristiano Ronaldo museum. – (Bloomberg)