BNP Paribas Real Estate acquires Dutch partner

BNP Paribas Real Estate has shown faith in the struggling Dutch property market by acquiring its alliance partner Holland Realty Partners.

Amsterdam-based Holland Realty Partners has 14 staff and has operated throughout the Netherlands in transaction investment, consulting, valuation and asset management in commercial real estate since 2008.

The firm became part of the alliance network of BNP Paribas Real Estate - Continental Europe's largest property adviser - four years ago. The founding partners will continue to manage the Holland Realty team. Machiel Hoek will be managing director, Sake Pleiter will be head of capital markets/consulting, and Sicco Posthumus will be head of transaction investments/commercial Management.

The firm is being rebranded as BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory Netherlands.

The Dutch real estate market has experienced difficulties since the start of the financial crisis due to lack of debt financing coupled with high office vacancy rates of about 15%. Risk aversion among cross-border investors has led to the majority of European investment flowing to the UK, Germany and France. However, the Dutch market has seen an upturn in deals in 2012.

PropertyNL, the sister publication of PropertyEU, reported that investment volumes for H1 were 11% higher than the year-earlier period. Deal activity slowed in the third quarter, but volumes for the first nine months still ended 6% higher than in the same period in 2011.

BNP Paribas Real Estate said in a statement the acquisition of Holland Realty Partners was the logical next step in their partnership and underlined the group's commitment to the Dutch market.

'The Dutch market offers many opportunities we want to seize, which is why we decided to develop a direct service offering by acquiring Holland Realty Partners,' Bernard Blanco, head of international at BNP Paribas Real Estate said.

'With this acquisition, we intend in particular to expand our operations with Dutch investment funds and their international counterparts in the Netherlands, and to create synergies with our other European markets,' he added.

BNP Paribas Real Estate is active in 36 countries, through 16 offices and 20 local alliances.