IWG plc

IWG plc, formerly Regus, is a multinational provider of serviced offices, business lounges and conferencing facilities. Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989,[3] IWG (for "International Workplace Group") is headquartered in Switzerland[4] and incorporated in Jersey. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

IWG plc
Public
Traded asLSE: IWG
ISINJE00BYVQYS01 
IndustryReal estate and business support services
Founded1989, Brussels, Belgium
HeadquartersSaint Helier, Jersey (Registered Office)
Zug, Switzerland (Head Office)
Key people
Douglas Sutherland, Chairman
Mark Dixon, CEO
Eric Hageman, CFO
ProductsServiced Offices, Coworking, Virtual Offices, Business Lounges, Meeting Rooms, Video Communication, Workplace Recovery
BrandsRegus, Spaces, HQ, Signature by Regus, No18, Basepoint, BizDojo, OpenOffice
Revenue£2,653.0 million (2019)[1]
£287.9 million (2019)[1]
£450.6 million (2019)[1]
Number of employees
over 10,000 (2019)[2]
Websitewww.iwgplc.com

Source: IWG plc Global Reporting Data


History
Serviced office space at Regus's first location in Brussels.

IWG plc was incorporated as "Regus" in 1989 by British businessman Mark Dixon.[5] In 1994, the five-year old company began an international expansion into Latin America and Asia [3] and by 2000, it completed an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.[6]

In 2001 it acquired Stratis Business Centers, a U.S.-based network of franchised business centres, and expanded into the United States market.[7] The company acquired HQ Global Workplaces, a global workplace provider based in the U.S. in 2004.[8] It went on to acquire Laptop Lane, a chain of American airport business centres, later that year.[9]

In 2002, the company sold a 58% stake in the UK business to Alchemy Partners in an 11th-hour rescue deal to avoid bankruptcy; the company bought the stake back three years later.[10] In 2003 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its U.S. business, which had been struggling in the wake of the dot-com bubble.[11] Less than a year later it took its U.S. business out of Chapter 11 after restructuring,[12] financed by its share of the profitable U.K. business.[11]

A Regus business lounge in Berlin.

In June 2008 Businessworld memberships were introduced, a multi-level service which allows users flexible access to services in any Regus location worldwide, intended for clients who travel frequently.[13]

The company renegotiated some leasing agreements with property owners in the U.K. to save money, warning owners that the vehicles holding the leases could go into administration (bankruptcy); this angered the British property industry.[14]

In 2013 the company opened serviced office spaces in its 100th country, Nepal,[15] its 1,500th centre in Pune, India,[16] and took control of MWB BE, the UK's second largest serviced office provider.[17]

In 2014, the company partnered with Swiss automaker Rinspeed to develop the "XchangE" concept automobile based on the Tesla Model S to help people work on the road.[18] Exhibited at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, the self-driving car has front seats that swivel backwards allowing four business travelers to meet face-to-face without a driver.[19]

Name changes

In October 2008, Regus Group plc became Regus plc. Regus plc was created as a holding company for Regus Group plc, in order to establish the company's headquarters in Luxembourg and its registered office in Jersey.[20] In December 2016, under a scheme of arrangement, the company established a new holding company called IWG plc.[21]

Spaces in La Défense, Paris

IWG plc acquired Dutch coworking brand Spaces in 2015, expanding to approximately 200 locations in over 40 countries.[22]

In 2017, IWG plc went onto acquire rights to Stockholm-based members club No18 under a franchise agreement with plans to expand globally.[23] Late in the year, Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management and Onex approached the company with an informal takeover proposal,[24] but talks collapsed in 2018, resulting in a 23% decrease in share price.[25]

In April 2019, IWG plc sold Regus Japan as part of a £320m franchise deal to meeting room rental business TKP Corporation.[26] In November 2019, the company sold its entire Swiss operation for £94m to a joint entity owned by Safra Group and real estate investors P. Peress Group.[27]

Operations, services, and competition
IWG plc's serviced offices and coworking locations as of November 2019. Interactive version with location names and addresses.

The company provides serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and videoconferencing to clients on a contract basis. In the third quarter of 2018, it operated 3,348 locations in over 1,000 towns and cities across more than 120 countries,[28] employing over 10,000 people, and providing services to over 2.5 million individual clients[2][29] making it the world's largest provider of flexible workspace.[30] The United States is currently IWG’s largest market.[31] As of July 2018, IWG's occupancy rate was 75%.[32] IWG brands include Regus,[33] Spaces,[33] HQ,[34] Signature by Regus,[35] and No18.[36][37]

IWG’s business strategy is focused on providing flexible workspaces as a service.[38] One of the company's principal advantages is that their global network allows customers to coordinate office services across distant locations.[13][4][39]

A Regus office building hosted Microsoft's Denmark headquarters in 2006.

Integration services for corporations seating employees at IWG locations involve a diverse set of support operations, such as telecommunications, mail delivery, catering, meeting rooms, lockers, printers, photocopiers, and the like.[40]

2019 saw the price of IWG stock double, likely due in part to a Japanese partnership announced April 15[41] and the failed WeWork IPO filed August 14.[42]
Regus in Richmond Hill, Ontario

IWG competes with WeWork in both the large serviced offices and rapidly expanding coworking sectors.[22][29] WeWork has only a tenth of IWG's locations, but a steeper growth rate and an 82% occupancy rate, gained from attracting a greater number of large organizations as clientele[32] by sustaining losses offset against large but dwindling venture capital investments.[31] WeWork lost more than $4,300 per desk in 2017 while IWG earned a profit of about $500 per desk.[32] WeWork's larger market capitalization valuation is based on its larger growth rate, but its expenses are projected to grow even faster — forcing it to withdraw from an initial public offering it had planned for 2019 — while IWG's solvency is seen by analysts as more certain, according to the Financial Times.[32]

Regus in Markham, Ontario

References
  1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  2. "Our story – About us". www.iwgplc.com. IWG plc. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  3. "Our History - Regus UK". regus.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. Wong, Natalie (January 16, 2019). "Deloitte to Move 700 Employees to Vancouver Co-Working Offices". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  5. Cave, Andrew (2004-07-17). "Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus: A true entrepreneur back on the expansion trail". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  6. Shah, Saeed (2000-09-27). "Regus valued at £1.6bn in second attempt at flotation". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  7. "Regus buys Stratis in $10m deal". Birmingham.bizjournals.com. 2001-05-09. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  8. "Regius will buy HQ Global". The New York Times. 2004-07-17. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  9. "Regus buys Laptop Lane". Buying Business Travel. 8 August 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  10. "Regus sells off crown jewels to stay alive". The Guardian. 21 December 2002. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  11. "Regus becomes first U.K. firm to file for Chapter 11". Findarticles.com. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  12. Williams, Charles (2003-08-29). "Regus to exit Chapter 11". Propertyweek.com. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  13. "Regus Responds to Growing Need for Privacy Amongst Business Travelers with the Launch of Businessworld Membership Card Program" Archived 2013-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Press release, June 16, 2008.
  14. Ruddick, Graham (12 March 2010). "Property industry furious at Regus". The Daily Telegraph.
  15. "Regus opens in Nepal – now operating in 100 countries". www.londonstockexchange.com. 2013-06-24.
  16. Tembhekar, Chittaranjan (2013-03-27). "Regus opens 1,500th business centre in Maharashtra". The Times of India.
  17. "Regus makes Business Exchange £65.6m bid". ft.com. 2013-02-19.
  18. Gutcher, Lianne (February 19, 2014). "Productivity on the go with driverless car that turns into an office". The National. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  19. "Rinspeed XChangE concept". www.rinspeed.eu. Retrieved 24 November 2019. Concept video presentation.
  20. "Admission and Listing of New Regus Ordinary Shares" Archived 2013-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, General notice, October 14, 2008.
  21. "Interview with Mark Dixon". Allan Saunderson News. Retrieved 1 October 2019 – via YouTube.
  22. "WeWork vs Regus vs Spaces: Which Office Space Is Right for You? (2019)". www.digitalfodder.com.
  23. "No18 Readies Gourmet Breakfast And Lunch Offerings For Members Of Their Luxe Coworking Space In Atlanta". Forbes. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  24. "IWG says Brookfield, Onex have made takeover approach but no formal offer". CTV News. The Canadian Press. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  25. Ashcroft, Jamie (6 August 2018). "IWG and Sabien Technology among Monday's market losers". Proactive. Proactive Investors. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  26. "IWG sells Regus Japan as part of a £320m franchise deal". Real Assets. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  27. Clark, Jessica (4 November 2019). "Wework rival IWG sells Swiss business for £94m". CityAM. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  28. Carlisle, Candace (23 December 2019). "CEO: IWG Plans Big US Expansion in Part by Franchising Its Shared-Office Model". CoStar News. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  29. "IWG plots next move as Spaces brand looks to rival WeWork". FT. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  30. "Terra Firma eyes buyout of office provider Spaces". FT. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  31. "Despite wework IPO turmoil co-working space has quadrupled since 2014 and is still growing". The Globe and Mail. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  32. Moore, Elaine; Platt, Eric (July 22, 2018). "Lex in depth: Why WeWork does not deserve a $20bn price tag". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  33. "Shared-office group IWG to move to McDonald's-style franchising". FT. 6 August 2019.
  34. "Regus Sues WeWork For Trademark Infringement, Poaching Tenants". Office Rent. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  35. "Bishopsgate is Signature development for IWG". The Times. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  36. "IWG to launch private members' club in Battersea Power Station". FT. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  37. "Flexible workspace provider to open 3000 sites across UK". Business Cloud. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  38. "WeWork Spotlight Has Helped the Shared Workspace Industry, Billionaire Mark Dixon Says". Bloomberg Markets: The Close. October 1, 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  39. Wong, Natalie (18 October 2019). "Google snubs WeWork, signs Toronto lease with co-working rival IWG". Financial Post. Commercial Real Estate: Bloomberg News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  40. "Regus Verizon integration final video 7". August 30, 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  41. "Strategic Partnership Transaction in Japan". otp.investis.com. IWG. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  42. Aydin, Rebecca (October 22, 2019). "The WeWork fiasco of 2019, explained in 30 seconds". Business Insider. Retrieved 15 January 2020.

Further reading
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