CRISTIANO RONALDO is set to expand his already-bulging business portfolio with a new real estate project in his native Madeira.
The 37-year-old, who is currently unemployed after parting company with Manchester United, is building on his partnership with hotel group Pestana with a £43 million apartment complex.
The residential flats are due to go up on land Ronaldo owns at Praia Formosa, near to the seven-storey building which forms part of his property empire where his mum Dolores Aveiro and older brother Hugo live.
The complex, consisting of 88 apartments, will be called Pestana Residences CR7. Construction work is expected to start around May next year.
Dionosio Pestana, president of the Pestana Hotel Group which already operates five CR7 branded hotels as part of a partnership with Ronaldo, revealed the plans during an interview with a Portuguese business paper.
If the Praia Formosa project proves a success, more apartment complexes are expected to be rolled out in Madeira and mainland Portugal.
Mr Pestana told Jornal de Negocios he did not rule out an expansion beyond Portugal but added: “At the moment we’re focused on mainland Portugal and Madeira although we’ve also developed a project in the Azores.
“At the moment we’re going to begin with this one in Praia Formosa, see what the result is and gauge the impact.”
Ronaldo teamed up with Pestana six years ago but their partnership had, until now, been focused solely on hotels.
Before investing in the hotel sector, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner launched a range of lifestyle products under the CR7 brand.
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He also has several hair clinics including one in the Spanish east coast city of Valencia and two in Porto.
When Insparya – founded by Ronaldo’s business partner and company CEO Paulo Ramos – opened in Valencia in March, bold claims were made about plans for “world dominance.”
Mr Ramos said at the time: “The Valencia opening is an important landmark for our leadership in Spain and a further step towards our commitment to international expansion and world leadership in the medical hair industry.
“This clinic is entirely designed and built from scratch by Insparya architects and we are very proud of how the result will be.”
The clinic was opened a few weeks after Cristiano’s sister Elma Aveiro announced the closure of the Madeira clothes store named after the former Man United striker.
The mum-of-one admitted it was a difficult decision to take after running the shop in the island capital Funchal where she is based for 15 years.
Elma, one of Cristiano’s three siblings, suggested the decision was linked to her busy schedule – although the store is not the first the footballer’s family have closed in recent years.
Last year, they closed a restaurant in Madeira and the CR7 clothes store in Vilamoura on the Algarve shut its doors in 2020 following below-expected sales – leaving the one in Madeira the only CR7 store that was left.
Ronaldo had another store in Lisbon’s Park of the Nations neighbourhood which also closed several years ago.
The soccer star’s business interests outside of the game also include gyms.
While his money-making ventures off the pitch show no sign of dipping, his footballing future is clouded by uncertainty.
The dad-of-five has been linked to a mega-bucks £173 million-a-year move to Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassar club but is jobless at the moment because of an explosive interview with Piers Morgan which led to the Premier League side and the superstar parting ways mid-season.
Ronaldo claimed during the interview he felt betrayed by his then-club and didn’t respect manager Erik ten Hag.
