User:KatherineBusby2019/IWG plc (promo draft)

IWG plc, formerly Regus plc, but still using the Regus brand, is a multinational provider of serviced offices, coworking spaces, business lounges, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and video teleconference services, employing over 10,000 people at around 3,300 locations in more than 110 countries, and providing services to over 2.5 million individual clients. Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989, IWG (for "International Workplace Group") is headquartered in Switzerland and incorporated in Jersey. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History
Regus was incorporated in 1989 by British businessman Mark Dixon. In 1994, Regus began an international expansion into Latin America and Asia and by 2000, it completed an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

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

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

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

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.

In 2013 Regus opened in its 100th country, Nepal, its 1,500th centre in Pune, India, and took control of MWB BE, the UK's second largest serviced office provider. In 2014 it signed deals with Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport, as well as the Singapore government.

In 2014, Regus partnered with Swiss automaker Rinspeed to develop the "XchangE" concept automobile based on the Tesla Model S to help people work on the road. 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.

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

In 2017, IWG acquired rights to Stockholm-based members club No18 under a franchise agreement with plans to expand globally.

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

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. In December 2016, under a scheme of arrangement, the company established a new holding company called IWG plc.

Operations, services, and competition


The company provides serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and videoconferencing to clients on a contract basis. It operates around 3,300 locations in over 1,000 towns and cities across more than 110 countries, employing over 10,000 people, and providing services to over 2.5 million individual clients making it the world's largest provider of flexible workspace. The United States is currently IWG’s largest market. As of July 2018, IWG's occupancy rate was 75%. IWG brands include Regus, Spaces, HQ, Signature by Regus, and No18.

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

IWG competes with WeWork in both the large serviced offices and rapidly expanding coworking sectors. 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 by sustaining losses offset against large but dwindling venture capital investments. WeWork lost more than $4,300 per desk in 2017 while IWG earned a profit of about $500 per desk. 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.