Dutch billionaire-entrepreneur Marcel Boekhoorn has sold the High Tech Campus (HTC) in Eindhoven to a fund managed by Oaktree Capital Management in what has been described as the biggest property transaction in the Netherlands so far this year.
The parties to the deal did not disclose the price, but experts estimate the science park changed hands for around €1.1 bn.
The campus, comprising more than 40 buildings where 235 businesses are based, employing 12,000 people, had been on the market for some time.
Boekhoorn acquired the HTC in 2012 for around €425 mln. In 2019, it was refinanced by a group of banks lead-managed by ABN Amro, putting its value at more than €900 mln. Initial yields for high tech centres have fallen in the past few years; last year, Brainport BIC in Eindhoven was sold to Capreon for a price reflecting a gross initial yield of 6%.
The HTC in Eindhoven has undergone further development in the past three years. Whereas some 90,000 m² of space was still undeveloped in 2019, this has now dropped to around 80,000 m².
Hermann Dambach, managing director at Oaktree, commented: ‘We’re delighted to be investing in this campus, which is one of the best science parks in Europe. We plan to expand the park further, modernise some of the buildings and upgrade the entire ecosystem.’
