HELIX alpha, a platform specialising in European Life Science Real Estate, has expanded its organisational structure and service portfolio. Effective 1st October 2026, Patrick Schlump will join the company as Managing Partner. His primary role will involve strengthening investment and fund management, as well as looking after institutional investors, thereby further consolidating HELIX alpha's institutional investment platform.
Mr. Schlump brings extensive experience in European investment and fund management. Most recently, he worked for the French company Praemia REIM, a pan-European investment manager focused on healthcare real estate. His professional collaboration with Martin Eberhardt FRICS, the founder and CEO of HELIX alpha, dates back to 2009 and included positions at Union Investment, Bouwfonds Investment Management, and Swiss Life Asset Managers, or their subsidiary Corpus Sireo. In these roles, both were involved in the development, launch, and management of primarily institutional real estate investment products. At Bouwfonds Investment Management, they worked on pan-European investment strategies for niche segments such as car parks and student housing, whose development required intensive investor education.
This experience in building and institutionalising specialised real estate segments will be incorporated into the further expansion of HELIX alpha. Mr. Schlump stated that at Bouwfonds Investment Management, it was observed how initially little-known real estate segments could evolve into established institutional asset classes. He emphasised that for car parks and student housing, a specialised investment approach, a European perspective, and intensive investor education were essential prerequisites. For Life Science Real Estate, a significantly more complex asset class, some challenges of the early institutionalisation phase are comparable, and he intends to bring this experience to HELIX alpha's investment and fund management starting in October.
Expansion to Include Advisory Services
Concurrently, HELIX alpha is expanding its service offering to include advisory. This was planned as a strategic expansion of the platform. The concrete implementation was accelerated by advisory enquiries from the market, which the company received even before actively offering or acquiring services. Advisory is thus not understood as a diversification into a new area of expertise, but as a consistent utilisation of the existing expertise within the team at the intersection of life science, real estate, and capital markets.
- —Corporate Real Estate Advisory
- —M&A Real Estate Advisory
- —Owner & Investor Advisory
- —Clusters & Ecosystem Advisory
The offering targets life science companies, property owners and investors, as well as public and private stakeholders in cluster and ecosystem development. A unifying principle between investment management and advisory is user-centricity. This user perspective is deeply embedded in the team's experience; Martin Eberhardt's professional history includes property management at Daimler-Benz and responsibility for the Real Estate Asset Management of Deutsche Telekom AG as COO of Corpus Sireo. He stressed that Life Science Real Estate must be conceived from the user's perspective, and that long-term reliable investment decisions can only be made through an understanding of the requirements of research, development, and production. Advisory is therefore a consistent extension of the existing approach.
Dr. Thomas Diefenthal, a biotechnologist with a doctorate, is moving from HELIX alpha's expert advisory board to an operational role as Director Advisory, following many years as managing director of BioPark Regensburg GmbH. He will also contribute his expertise to the Investment & Risk Committee in the future. Dr. Diefenthal built up BioPark Regensburg over two decades, developed its properties, and managed the site as operator. His international experience in the life science sector and in the development of clusters and innovation ecosystems, complemented by his position as honorary vice-president of the German Association of Innovation, Technology and Business Incubators e.V., qualifies him to bring his scientific, user, development, operator, and cluster perspectives into both advisory mandates and directly into HELIX alpha's investment process.
