The head of IWG has confirmed that the owner of Regus is closing down its serviced office spaces in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
IWG runs nine offices in Russia but Mark Dixon, the group’s founder and chief executive, said that he had taken the decision to withdraw from the country. Speaking at Mipim, the annual property conference in Cannes, he said: “We have a small business in Russia. We were expanding but we’ve cut all investment.” He added: “We’re pulling out gradually.”
Dixon, 62, founded IWG, or Regus as it was then, in 1989, opening its first office in Brussels. It has grown into the world’s biggest serviced offices provider, with about 3,300 centres in more than 120 countries. The FTSE 250 company runs the Regus and Spaces brands. Dixon, its biggest shareholder, has a 28.5 per cent stake.
He did not put a timeline on IWG’s withdrawal from Russia but said that the company “just has to wait for the leases to end”.
IWG’s Russian offices mainly serve international companies, many of which have been scaling back operations in Russia.
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“We’re supporting companies that can’t work any more in Kyiv,” Dixon said. “We’ve got quite a few companies that have moved to Poland. They’ve also moved to Romania and some to Portugal.”
He added that it was “obviously a very difficult situation” and that closing down IWG’S Russian business felt like the “right thing to do”.
Outside Russia, IWG’s occupancy numbers are starting to pick up, Dixon said. Before the pandemic, the typical office would be about 80 to 85 per cent full. They are now back to 75 per cent, the highest rate since the coronavirus pandemic began two years ago. Pricing is also on the up as none of its customers receives discounts any longer.