CGI Merchant Group LLC (CGI), a global investment management firm with a focus on commercial real estate and private equity, has formed a new platform-level investment partnership with professional boxer and businessman Floyd Mayweather.
The platform investment vehicles will be open to other athletes, celebrities and select family offices with aims to deploy more than $250 million into commercial real estate assets, inclusive of CGI’s flagship Hospitality Opportunity Fund (H-Fund) and other CGI investment vehicles with a wide spectrum of real estate strategies and asset classes, including hotel, office and private credit. The partnership is aligned with CGI’s commitment to creating long-term value and seeking to impact and improve the communities where it invests through its ESG aligned social impact strategy, according to the company.
Former New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez is also a major investor in H-Fund, which is purchasing the Trump International Hotel Washington, DC, for $375 million. Other properties in the portfolio include The Gabriel South Beach and The Gabriel Downtown, both in Miami.
“I’ve long admired Floyd Mayweather for being one of the world’s greatest professional athletes and for his incredible business instincts,” said Raoul Thomas, CGI founder/CEO (shown above left, with Mayweather). “The CGI family is honored to welcome him and we look forward to working together to foster a steadfast and sustainable approach to commercial real estate investing.”
Mayweather said, “I am blessed to have made a lot of money as a professional athlete, which I have used to create generational wealth. I am inspired to work with CGI and take these experiences to empower other athletes to do the same through investing in commercial real estate.”
The retired boxing champion-turned-investor is continuing to expand his growing real estate investment portfolio, which includes numerous commercial real estate properties around the country totaling billions of dollars in assets, according to CGI.
“Over the years, Mayweather’s savvy investment decisions have made him a notable figure in business, fueled by the desire to create a platform of financial independence for the people and communities around him,” said Thomas. ”This desire is directly aligned with my own vision for CGI to be a vehicle for this type of change.”
