The Portuguese Development Bank (BPF) announces the appointment of
Abel Mascarenhas as Chief Executive Officer of
Fomento Fundos, joining Executive Directors
José Riscado dos Santos and
Rita Lavado, thus completing the Board of Directors of the management company that is part of the BPF Group.
"The appointment of Abel to Fomento – Real Estate Investment Funds strengthens the role that, within the BPF Group, we want this area to play. His experience, combined with the extensive expertise of Riscado dos Santos and Rita Lavado, will be essential for the growth of Fomento and of the Group in the real estate investment sector."
Gonçalo Regalado, CEO of Banco Português de Fomento
"The objective is to make Fomento Real Estate the central pillar of public real estate investment in the service of development, territorial cohesion, businesses, employment and the real economy. My commitment is to support those who invest, those who undertake and those who work, so that results reach the economy, the territories and the people. Because when the country moves forward, we all move forward. And it is with this spirit of mission that I begin this journey today."
Abel Mascarenhas, President of Fomento Fundos
With a professional background marked by the management of European financing programmes and real estate funds, Abel Mascarenhas joins from Vanguard Signature, where he served as Chief Investment Officer (CIO). He previously chaired the management structure of IFRRU 2020 for almost a decade, the most significant financial instrument launched in Portugal to promote urban rehabilitation, aimed at creating wealth, employment and energy efficiency through the comprehensive refurbishment of buildings for economic activities, housing and collective-use facilities, as well as projects in social areas. He holds a degree and a Master’s in Computer Engineering from UNL-FCT and is currently a PhD candidate in Public Administration, specialising in European funds and financial instruments, at ISCSP/UL. He has also completed several postgraduate programmes in areas such as regulation and competition, banking, insurance and financial markets, real estate management and valuation, as well as executive management programmes in both the private and public sectors.
José Manuel Riscado dos Santos holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico and brings over 40 years of experience in investment, public financing, project management and asset enhancement, particularly in the Tourism, Real Estate and Investment Funds sectors. After two decades at Turismo de Portugal, I.P., where he led teams and monitored hundreds of projects supported by national and European funds, he is currently an Executive Director of Fomento – SGOIC, S.A. At Fomento, he leads the strategic management of five real estate funds, comprising 115 properties and more than €400 million under management.
Rita Lavado holds a degree in Tourism Business Management and a postgraduate qualification in Real Estate Investments. She began her career in the tourism sector in 1999, having worked at the Institute for Financing and Support of Tourism and at Turismo de Portugal, I.P., where she led strategic teams and contributed to public policy and legislative development. Between 2019 and 2020, she joined TF Turismo Fundos as an Adviser to the Board. Since 2020, she has been an Executive Director of FOMENTO – Real Estate Investment Funds, SGOIC, S.A., leading the strategic and operational management of the funds under administration through a rigorous, efficient approach focused on the public interest.
Founded in 1995 as a partnership between Turismo de Portugal, Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Novobanco, Fomento Fundos manages five real estate investment funds and has been part of the Banco Português de Fomento Group since November 2020, which holds 53.2% of its share capital.
