Mark Dixon buys nearly £10m in IWG stock

IWG chief executive Mark Dixon has bought £9.86m of shares in the Regus owner. The serviced offices company’s founder and largest shareholder has upped his stake in the business from 25% to 26.3% following aborted takeover talks. The company’s shares had hovered around the 300p mark since interest in the company became public in mid-May but slumped by 23% on the news that talks were halted, pushing the price down to close to 230p. IWG’s management informed Starwood, Terra Firma and TDR that it did not want to continue discussions regarding their possible offers a day before their formal “put up or shut up” deadline was due to expire on 7 August. IWG is now exploring a sale-and-leaseback of its real estate in order to extract value from the company. The company owns £150m of freehold assets, all of which sit in the UK, and which the firm is now considering disposing of to free up cash to invest in its operational business.   To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette