One Site and Three Buyers

Who buys a 23 hectare campus?

Three very different parties. And they are not buying the same thing.

Whenever you have a larger scale asset to sell, you look at a number of scenarios. Those scenarios differ based on the highest and best use, existing structures, corporate strategy and remaining time "on site", existing real estate market cycle, municipal interest, development potential etc.

This is important to know because a combination of the above defines whether your deal can "make or break" in the first place.

A developer buys the land and the planning risk. The existing structures are a cost, not an asset. What matters is what can be built, and under which permission. Residential, mixed-use, logistics, or a specialised use if the site conditions support it. The price follows the (re-)development potential, not the current occupancy.

An institutional investor buys the income. With tenants already in place, the campus reads as a multi-tenant business park. Lease terms, covenant strength, re-letting risk. This buyer wants the structures kept and the cash flow stable, and will pay for predictability rather than upside.

A corporate buys the function. Rare at this scale, but it happens where a company needs a campus and finds one already built, connected and permitted.

And then there is the municipality. Usually not the buyer, but often the one deciding what any of the others can actually do.

So ask yourself:

Is it interesting for a developer, or should I define a classic investor friendly cash-flow deal?

What is the role of the local municipality? What are their interests?

How would the local community be impacted? How can it be protected?

So in the end, it is a much more holistic exercise than it looks from outside. The seller is not just finding a buyer. They are deciding which buyer they are selling to, and that sets the price long before anything goes to market.



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