Lone Star And Starwood Among Bidders For World’s Biggest Flexible Office Company
IWG, the owner of Regus, and the world’s largest flexible office company, has received prospective bids from three private equity firms to take the company private.
London-listed IWG said it received indicative proposals from the European division of Lone Star, Starwood Capital and European firm TDR Capital.
Shares in the company jumped 23% on Monday, valuing the company at about £2.8B ($3.8B). IWG said the companies have until 8 June to make a full bid.
The news comes after Brookfield pulled back from a bid for the company earlier this year which would have valued IWG at about £2.7B. The stock market seems to believe a firm bid will be forthcoming this time — Brookfield was reported to be bidding about 300p a share for IWG, but the company’s share price did not get above 275p. This time around, shares have jumped to 310p on the prospect of a competitive bidding battle.
IWG, run by founder and Chief Executive Mark Dixon, is the world’s largest serviced office company with more than 3,000 serviced offices in about 1,000 cities across the world. In 2016 it made a profit of £186M, up from £145M the year before.
For a full analysis of why a private equity firm would want to buy IWG click here.
