25 February 2021

De Bijenkorf put itself in an unfavourable position before the Supreme Court in a fight against a consortium of CBRE Global Investors, the lessor of its properties. In its claim, De Bijenkorf asserted that CBRE Global Investors would have to offer the property for sale to the department store chain. The Hague Court of Appeal rejected the claim in its judgment of 24 December 2019. The Supreme Court has now upheld that judgment.

In 2017, De Bijenkorf instituted a total of five actions against the sellers, the holding companies and the leasing property companies. De Bijenkorf argued that, in view of the transaction, it could rely on the rights of first refusal included in the lease agreements. It claimed on that basis that it should be offered to buy the properties or the shares in the property companies. De Bijenkorf also claimed damages, and contractual penalties totalling approximately EUR 22 million. De Bijenkorf's claims were rejected in their totality in both the first and the second instance. The appeal taken to the Supreme Court by De Bijenkorf was dismissed on 19 February 2021 and ended these proceedings.

Houthoff assisted CBRE Global Investors in 2017 and in the proceedings before the Supreme Court. The Houthoff Litigation Team included Bart van der Wiel, Tijs van Tatenhove and Nathalie Amiel. In the Supreme Court proceedings, the team worked together with BarentsKrans.