Who We Are
Hotel Invest is managed by FundBox, one of Portugal's most seasoned fund management firms.
Pedro Mendes Leal and Luiz Godinho Lopes, recognized Portuguese businessmen, investee Company Estoril Living is powered by shareholders with a pristine track record in hospitality and real estate in Portugal. The engagement of key stakeholders in the development of Estoril Living, S.A. is poised to significantly enhance the value of the investment, particularly in the following areas:
- Identifying strategic opportunities for reputable hotel operations to join the project.
- Coordinating comprehensive due diligence processes.
- Identifying and negotiating partnerships with esteemed international hotel brands.
- Formulating a robust exit strategy.
- Identifying strategic opportunities for reputable hotel operations to join the project.
- Coordinating comprehensive due diligence processes.
- Identifying and negotiating partnerships with esteemed international hotel brands.
- Formulating a robust exit strategy.
Rita, a Portuguese national, posts a 25+-year career in capital markets and financial management. Her initial position was in equity research in Portuguese investment banking, first (1999) with Millennium BCP and later with Caixa BI (2001) and Banif Investimentos (2007). As usual with seasoned public equity analysts, she moved on to become investor relations officer with Euronext Lisbon-listed construction group Soares da Costa in 2010, and became Soares da Costa SGPS Finance Director in 2015. After a stint with property consultants CBRE from 2016 to 2018, she held Finance Director positions with IT consultants Multivision and workspace designers Fluxograma before joining FundBox as Chief Investment Officer – Private Equity in 2025.
Rita holds a BSc degree in Economics from the Portuguese Catholic University and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Lisbon University Institute.
Joaquim started his career as a strategy consultant with Prof. Michael Porter’s Monitor Company. He moved on to Roland Berger before switching to investment banking with Banco Efisa and Banco Finantia, and later to Portugal Telecom where he took responsibilty for M&A in Portugal and Brazil.
He left PT and Brazil to become a partner in the Brazilian-founded hedge fund Dynamo Capital in London, a position he left in the aftermath of the subprime crisis, to return to Portugal and to investment banking, now as CEO of Caixa BI, the investment banking arm of the Portuguese Republic’s bank CGD. Upon leaving Caixa BI, he took non-executive director positions in various companies, in Brazil, Turkey, Panama and Portugal. He is the non-executive vice-chairman of FundBox SGOIC, FundBox’s AIFM.
Joaquim holds a BSc in Economics from NOVA SBE and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School.
João, has 30 years of experience, of which 7 as a member of the Supervisory Board of Fundbox and 6 as a member of the Board of Auditors of MAPFRE. He started his career as a Finance professor in two American universities (California and Arizona) and is currently teaching in two Portuguese universities (ISCTE and ISCAL).
João holds a BSc and a Master’s degree in Economics from NOVA SBE, and a PhD in Economics from the UC Santa Barbara.
Luiz Godinho Lopes founded contractor Soconstroi in 1983, at the age of 30. The company was subsequently acquired by french Giants Bouygues, from which it was repurchased by Luiz Godinho Lopes to be merged with A. Silva & Silva , and finally acquired by Somague (now part of Sacyr) in 1997.
Luiz moved on to property development, with groundbreaking projects such as the Porto and Cascais Intercontinentals and Estoril Sol Residences in Cascais.
Pedro Mendes Leal was previously the founder of Empark, a leading parking operator sold to spanish entrepreneur Leopoldo del Pino in 2010.
In 2005 he opened the successful Bairro Alto Hotel in the same building which housed previously the landmark Grand Hotel de L’Europe, which he sold in 2009 to the Tavares da Silva Family. In 2014 he opened the first Valverde Hotel in Lisbon’s Avenida da Liberdade.