VanWonen acquires NU Projectontwikkeling

Last year, VanWonen and NU started their collaboration with the UrbanParks project in Havenkwartier in Rijswijk. This is how both companies got to know each other better. Alfred Bolks, CEO of VanWonen, about the acquisition: “The acquisition of NU Projectontwikkeling is in line with VanWonen’s growth strategy. This strategy is driven by the social task of housing construction in our country, in close collaboration with municipalities, investors, housing associations, local residents and future residents. To accomplish that, we need sufficient size and scale. The acquisition of NU allows us to build up ample expertise, which is good for the development of our employees and for the long-term continuity of our company.”

NU’s portfolio is mainly focused on the metropolitan region of The Hague – Rotterdam. Since its establishment, VanWonen has been active in the north and east of the Netherlands. Alfred: “Our ambition is to grow into a national player. We will of course retain our characteristic, authentic ‘northern’ approach. With the acquisition of NU, our portfolio becomes more diverse and we have a better spread of risk. NU can benefit from our approach for its future growth. And from our organisational structure, which we have already set up for a much larger scale.”

NU specializes in affordable housing
In the Hague region, NU Projectontwikkeling is well-known as a housing developer. The company has a team of 10 employees and an extensive project portfolio. It contains a relatively large number of housing projects aimed at affordable housing, mostly in partnership with housing associations, such as Staedion and HaagWonen. With the project Caland Dock, NU won the award ‘Haagse Woonprijs 2020’. The Haagse Woonprijs is an award for projects that boost the quality of housing and have a positive impact on the area.

Michel Zaadhof, who together with Raymond Rijnaars remains the face of NU Projectontwikkeling: “As NU, we also have growth objectives. We want to be able to make new acquisitions in the future, also of a larger scale. With the departure of one of our shareholders, the need arose to look for a solid and professional partner. We have found this partner in VanWonen. A partner with challenging ambitions in the field of area development, and with a distinctive approach to customer experience excellence and employee engagement excellence. Our customers and our employees will definitely experience the added value of this. So it is with great confidence that we embark on the next phase of our company, with VanWonen.”

Advisors
VanWonen and NU Projectontwikkeling were advised by real estate M&A advisor Capital FIT. Greenberg Traurig and Habraken Rutten provided legal advice.