IWG tumbles as talks with Brookfield and Onex end

Shares in IWG tumbled on Thursday after the serviced office provider confirmed that discussions with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and private equity firm Onex - announced back in December - have ended.

“The board remains highly confident in the prospects of IWG and believes that IWG continues to have an exciting future as an independent company.”

The consortium had until 1700 GMT on Friday to formally bid for the company.

Shares in the group were down 14% to 228p at 1615 GMT.

IWG also updated the market on its progress, releasing a separate statement in which it said that results for the year to the end of December 2017 are expected to be in line with previous guidance after the final months of last year saw an improvement in trading.

The company said revenue growth for open centres accelerated to 7.5% in the fourth quarter from 4.4% in the third, while mature centre revenues returned to growth.

“The board remains excited about the prospects for IWG, given its leading position in the fast-growing Workspace-as-a-Service (WaaS) sector. Our industry is becoming more mainstream, with major global trends driving long-term demand for flexible workspace.

“Digitalisation is changing how people work, people are increasingly wanting the personal lifestyle and productivity benefits, and businesses want to capture the strategic and financial advantages. With our unrivalled networks and format offerings, we are continuing to gain traction with major corporations that wish to benefit from these trends.”