HELIX alpha is further developing its specialized European life science real estate platform. With effect from October 1, 2026, Patrick Schlump will join HELIX alpha as Managing Partner and will strengthen investment and fund management as well as the support of institutional investors. At the same time, HELIX alpha is expanding its range of services to include advisory. After completing his many years as Managing Director of BioPark Regensburg GmbH, Dr. Thomas Diefenthal will move from the advisory board of HELIX alpha to an operational role as Director Advisory and will also contribute his expertise to the Investment & Risk Committee in the future.
Investment Management remains the strategic core of HELIX alpha. Advisory complements the platform within its existing focus on life science real estate and makes a broader part of the team’s existing expertise usable for external mandates.
Institutional investment platform to be strengthened
Schlump has many years of experience in European investment and fund management. Most recently, he worked for the French Praemia REIM, a pan-European investment manager with a strong focus on healthcare real estate. Since 2009, he has worked with HELIX-alpha founder and CEO Martin Eberhardt FRICS in several joint professional positions, including at Union Investment, the Dutch Bouwfonds Investment Management and the Swiss Swiss Life Asset Managers and its subsidiary Corpus Sireo. In their joint positions, both were involved in the development, launch and management of predominantly institutional real estate investment products.
In the case of Bouwfonds Investment Management, this included pan-European investment strategies for multi-storey car parks and student housing, segments that were not yet well established among professional investors at the time. In addition to specialised investment and fund management, their development also required intensive investor education. This experience with the institutionalisation of specialised real estate segments is to be incorporated into the further development of HELIX alpha.
“Martin and I have already experienced at Bouwfonds Investment Management how initially little-known real estate segments can develop into established institutional asset classes. In the case of multi-storey car parks and student housing, a specialised investment approach, a European perspective and intensive investor education were essential prerequisites. Life Science Real Estate is a different and clearly complex asset class, but some of the challenges of the early institutionalisation phase are comparable. I would like to bring this experience to the investment and fund management of HELIX alpha from October,” says Schlump.
Advisory responds to market demand
The development of advisory was generally intended as an extension of the HELIX-alpha platform. However, the concrete impetus for the current implementation was provided by requests for advice that were brought to the company from the market before HELIX alpha had actively offered or acquired corresponding services.
Advisory is therefore not a diversification into a new field of expertise, but builds on existing expertise at the interface of life science, real estate and capital. The offer is aimed in particular at life science companies, real estate owners and investors as well as public and private cluster and ecosystem players. The focus is on Corporate Real Estate Advisory, M&A Real Estate Advisory, Owner & Investor Advisory and Clusters & Ecosystem Advisory.
The unifying principle of investment management and advisory is user-centricity. This user perspective is also anchored in the team’s experience: Eberhardt’s professional roots lie in real estate management at Daimler-Benz, among other things; later, as COO of Corpus Sireo, he was responsible for real estate asset management at Deutsche Telekom AG.
“Life Science Real Estate must be thought of from the user’s point of view. Only those who understand how research, development and production work and what requirements arise from this for the location and real estate can make long-term sustainable investment decisions. This user-centricity has characterized HELIX alpha since our founding. Advisory is therefore not a new field of expertise for us, but a logical extension of our existing approach,” says Eberhardt.
Thomas Diefenthal contributes science, development and operator expertise
With Diefenthal , a proven life science expert accompanies the development of Advisory. The doctor of biotechnology has played a key role in building up the successful BioPark in Regensburg over more than two decades, developing and realizing its real estate and managing the site as operator. In addition, he has many years of international experience in the life science sector as well as in the development of clusters and innovation ecosystems and is Honorary Vice President of the Federal Association of German Innovation, Technology and Start-up Centres e.V.
As Director Advisory and member of the Investment & Risk Committee, Diefenthal will contribute his scientific, user, development, operator and cluster perspectives both to advisory mandates and directly to the investment process of HELIX alpha.
