Marcel Boekhoorn buys High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

Boekhoorn: “A driving force behind innovation in the Netherlands”

Eindhoven – A boost for the Netherlands as a pioneer of innovation. That is the aim of the investor consortium led by Marcel Boekhoorn, which today took over the real estate and management of High Tech Campus Eindhoven in the biggest single-asset real estate deal in Dutch history.

Royal Philips Electronics is selling the real estate of High Tech Campus Eindhoven for 425 million euros. The deal includes 246,000 square metres of built-up area plus 130,000 square metres for the development of office and R&D facilities. The consortium consists of members of the Boekhoorn family, the board and management of Boekhoorn M&A B.V. and Chalet Group. Chalet Group will acquire the Campus Site Management (CSM) organisation, which runs – and will continue to run – the daily operations at High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Chalet Group will also be responsible for the asset management of the Campus.

“ONCE IN A LIFETIME”

Boekhoorn: “When Philips decided to sell the Campus buildings and part of the infrastructure, we were enthusiastic immediately. The Campus is home to some outstanding companies such as Philips, NXP and IBM, and prestigious knowledge institutes. This mix of entrepreneurship and knowledge forms a unique ecosystem where more than eight thousand highly trained people work in a top-notch setting. The chance of an acquisition like that only comes along once in a lifetime. It is a logical step in our strategy for continued investment in innovative companies.”

Through his investment company, Ramphastos Investments N.V., Boekhoorn has acquired majority shareholdings in dozens of innovative enterprises in recent years, venturing into fields as diverse as telecommunications, fashion, flight simulators, innovative consumer goods, media and financial services. An overview of activities can be found at www.ramphastosinvestments.com. Boekhoorn: “These businesses, without exception, share an impassioned commitment to innovation. Now we can take a giant step forward to stay on top of the game innovation-wise in and around Eindhoven and in the Netherlands in general.”

OPEN INNOVATION

High Tech Campus Eindhoven was designed and realised along the lines of the Open Innovation principle, which revolves around the sharing of knowledge, skills and state-of-the-art facilities. Thousands of expert technologists work on the Campus on a space measuring less than a square kilometre. Innovations are realised faster in inspiring and motivating working environments with knowledge-sharing opportunities.

The Campus is part of the Brainport Top Technology Region, which profiles itself as ‘a breeding ground for innovation and the home base for companies and world-class knowledge and research
institutes’. In June 2011 Brainport was proclaimed the ‘world’s smartest region’ by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), an international think tank for economic and social development which draws up an annual league table of intelligent communities. ICF called Brainport an ‘example of a new vision of cooperation and regional development’.

Boekhoorn: “We will do everything possible in the coming years, in partnership with the Municipality of Eindhoven, the Province of North Brabant and the current occupants of the Campus, to make optimal use of the much-acclaimed innovation strengths and potential of High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Chalet Group and CSM are working hard to persuade leading-edge companies from inside and outside the Netherlands to settle at the Campus.”

Boris Brummelhuis, Managing Director of Chalet Group: “After this acquisition the assets that Chalet Group will manage for Marcel Boekhoorn will extend across a real estate portfolio worth more than one and half billion euros. We aim to achieve equanimity, reliability and stability in the real estate that we manage, also in the longer term.”

General Manager of Campus Site Management Frans Schmetz: “This is a crucial step in the further international development of the Open Innovation ecosystem with new investments and initiatives in the years ahead.”

Bert Pauli, delegate for Economic Affairs and Government at the Province of North Brabant: “We look forward to being involved in the future developments at High Tech Campus Eindhoven and to promoting economic growth and top-quality employment in the region.”

About Chalet Group

Chalet Group is a young and professional real estate investment and management company for private investors. Within one year of being established in 2009, it has grown into one of the biggest private real-estate investors in the Netherlands with a managed portfolio worth over one billion euros. Chalet Group is headquartered in the World Trade Center in Amsterdam. www.chaletgroup.nl.

About High Tech Campus Eindhoven

High Tech Campus Eindhoven is an R&D ecosystem of more than 100 companies and institutes, and some 8,000 researchers, developers and entrepreneurs, who together are working on developing the technologies and products of tomorrow. The preferred work approach at the Campus is Open Innovation: Campus companies share knowledge, skills and R&D facilities in order to achieve faster, better and more customer-oriented innovation. The companies on the Campus focus on such fields of technology as High Tech Systems, Microsystems, Embedded Systems, Life Sciences and Infotainment. Taking these domains as their starting point, they create global innovations, most notably in the application fields Health, Experience and Energy. www.hightechcampus.com
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End of press release. For further information please call Boris Brummelhuis, Chalet Group on (+31)(0)20 – 333 1220.