Netherlands-based developer TCN has shifted its focus to investment because the prospects for the development business have been drastically reduced in the wake of the global financial crisis and the economic downturn.
Netherlands-based developer TCN has shifted its focus to investment because the prospects for the development business have been drastically reduced in the wake of the global financial crisis and the economic downturn.
TCN had 406 staff at end-2007, but the crisis has forced the company to reduce its head count several times, leaving it with 180 employees by the end of this year. TCN had hoped to sell more than the usual ratio of 20% of its portfolio during the summer of 2008 to strengthen its financial position. But the company managed to sell only a quarter of the target due to the reduced availability of bank financing, CEO Rudy Stroink told PropertyNL, the Dutch-language sister publication of PropertyEU.
Stroink says that TCN has always been open about its activities, but the company has nevertheless been at the centre of speculation in the Dutch market about how badly real estate developers have been effected by the liquidity crisis.
In the article, Stroink explains the actions taken by the company: 'There is a big difference in how TCN looks at the world and how our peers do. While some are still in denial, we understood early on that we the situation would become really difficult. That is why we informed the market. If you are transparent in good times, you have to be equally transparent in bad times. But that leads, it seems, to speculation about your position'.
TCN Property Projects - formerly known as Trammell Crow Nederland - was founded in 1992 and is based in the Dutch town of Nieuwegein. The company has operated as a project developer that designs, manages, and finances projects in the Netherlands and several other European countries including Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Hungary.
Meanwhile another leading Dutch developer Coen van Oostrom of OVG says his company - market leader in office development in the Netherlands - has also been subject to rumours about its financial position. I find it odd that developers spread rumours without knowing or researching the facts.
An abridged version of the interview will appear in the December edition of PropertyEU Magazine.
