Philips deal accounts for 34% of Dutch volume in Q1

The consortium acquisition of the Philip's High Tech Campus in the Dutch city of Eindhoven for EUR 425 mln in March was the largest single asset deal ever in the Netherlands and accounted for 34% of the totalnvolume of EUR 20 mln-plus deals recorded by PropertyEU in the country during the first quarter of the year.

The High Tech Campus consists of a developed site covering some 246,000 m² as well as 130,000 m² of potential office and R&D space.

The consortium was led by Dutch entrepreneur Marcel Boekhoorn, and comprised members of his family, the management of Boekhoorn's company Boekhoorn M&A and investment firm Chalet Group, also owned by Boekhoorn. The Chalet Group acquired the Campus Site Management (CSM) organisation, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the campus. Chalet will also asset-manage the complex.

The transaction helped maintain the upward momentum in Dutch volumes that set in during Q4 2011 following a downward spiral in the first nine months of the year.

PropertyEU Research recorded a volume of EUR 1.4 bn in three first three months of 2012. The result was almost on a par with the EUR 1.5 bn recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Aside from Boekhoorn, the major investors were German investors who accounted for 20% of the total investment volume. The top German investor was Deka Immobilien, whcih acquired the Rock office property in Amsterdam for about EUR 130 mln and the American hotel in the Dutch capital for some EUR 60 mln.

The period July to end-September last year was a two-year low for Dutch property investment as only EUR 877 mln of deals was recorded. The first and second quarters of the year each saw about EUR 1 bn of investment, less than half of the EUR 2.4 bn in the fourth quarter of 2010.