IWG Needs to Explain Why It’s So Hard to Get
The WeWork wannabe has turned down several bids despite profit warnings.
A WeWork office in San Francisco: Mounting competition.
Photographer: Mike Short/BloombergThree identified bidders and almost three months of talks – ideal conditions, surely, for a fully priced takeover deal. Yet IWG Plc, the serviced-office provider, is back on the shelf after failing to get an auction going, much less agree on terms with any of its suitors. Founding CEO Mark Dixon now has much to prove.
IWG was put in play after a profit warning in October that cut its market value by one-third. In December, there was a takeover approach from a consortium led by U.S. property group Brookfield Asset Management Inc. that fizzled a month later. In May, bid interest returned, with three private equity firms – Starwood Capital Group, TDR Capital LLP and Lone Star Funds, soon to be replaced by Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. – taking a look.