Bart Verhaeghe

Bart Verhaeghe, (born in 1965) is a well-known Belgian entrepreneur.

In 1992 Verhaeghe took his first steps in real estate when he met building contractor Luc Verelst.

He acquired a stake in the industrial building company Verelst, from which Eurinpro later emerged.

This company grew into a global player in logistic real estate.

Verhaeghe also set up two real estate funds, Siref and Retail Estates.

He used these investment companies to list his retail property and semi-industrial property on the stock market.

As real estate investment, Verhaeghe bought the Castle of Bever from Count Eric de Villegas de Clercamp in 2004.

The castle has been fully renovated and is surrounded by roughly 17 hectares of park area.

In 2004, at the request of the Flemish government, Verhaeghe developed a feasibility study for schools and football stadiums.

Subsequently, he was contacted by the then board of Club Brugge, which developed plans for a new stadium.

Verhaeghe additionally developed a strategic vision for the first division.

At the request of the board of directors at the time, Verhaeghe implemented the internal changes, became chairman and hired Vincent Mannaert to become CEO of Club Brugge.

Mannaert leads the operational operations of Club, supported by a professional management team.

The Board of Directors was also subject to major changes: several entrepreneurs made their entry.

He also co-founded the independent think tank Itinera in 2006.

Verhaeghe encourages entrepreneurship, among other things, with his passionate plea for more ambition and courage in our society.

This company grew substantially and was sold in 2006 to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro.

Verhaeghe invests in sports (Club Brugge), real estate (project development and real estate investments), private equity, listed shares and non-profit organisations (Itinera and the Anti-Cancer Fund).

These investments are part of the family holding LakeSprings nv.

In 2006, Eurinpro was sold to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro

Verhaeghe then set up the real estate company Uplace, specialised in developing innovative projects where living, working and relaxing go together.

Near Brussels, Uplace develops a new workshop district called BROEKLIN, where training, production, consumption and circularity meet at a very central location in Belgium.

The work shop district is designed by Professor and architect Alexander D’Hooghe.

Uplace also creates new city districts in Dendermonde and Tielt.

He became president of Club Brugge in 2011, one year later he became the majority shareholder.

He is also chairman of project developer UPLACE and former vice-chairman of the Royal Belgian Football Association.

Over an eight-year period, Club Brugge's turnover grew from 43 million Euro in 2011 to 137 million Euro in 2020.

Stable sporting results led to stable revenues thanks to repeated participation at the Champion's league, a clever player transfer policy and longlasting, innovative sponsorship deals.

At the end of 2012, the trade fund of the non-profit association Club Brugge K.V. was transferred to the limited liability company Club Brugge, to which an amount of 15 million euros was contributed.

Verhaeghe became the majority shareholder.

From 2014 to 2023, Club Brugge achieved the best results of all clubs in the Jupiler Pro League.

The table below shows that under the reign of Bart Verhaeghe as Chairman and Vincent Mannaert as CEO, Club Brugge evolved into a stable Belgian top club and European sub-topper.

The entrepreneurial duo Verhaeghe-Mannaert also achieved very strong financial results.

That's the key message in his book 'Durf!’ (Dare!) which was published by Van Halewyck in 2019.

Verhaeghe was born into a Brabant family with West Flemish roots.

He grew up in Grimbergen, near Brussels, and played soccer at KSC Grimbergen and Hoger Op Merchtem.

After secondary school at the Jan van Ruusbroeck College in Laken, he studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven and obtained a Master of Business Administration at Vlerick Business School.

He started his career at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations.

He resigned after nine months to start as an entrepreneur.

At industrial building company Verelst, he developed project developer Eurinpro specialising in logistic real estate and of which he became CEO.