by Edward Simpkins
Fast-growing serviced office provider Regus has secured backing from UBS Structured Finance to help fund its expansion outside Europe.
Regus executive chairman Mark Dixon said that the company has agreed a £10m loan from UBS and hopes to raise a further £20m of debt. Dixon said: “We’ve got £10m of UBS funding and on the back of that, we’ll have £30m in total. And we’ve got cash flow on top of that.”
The deal comes after negotiations with GE Capital to inject capital into Regus broke down. Dixon talked to the giant US financier last year about selling it a stake in his company, but was unable to agree a deal.
Dixon said: “It was not the right deal at the right time and we decided to do the UBS funding instead. It was a cost- of-money issue.”
The money is needed in part for a push into the North American market, which would see Regus competing head-to-head with rival HQ Offices. Regus aims to open 10-15 centres in the US this year of around 3,716-7,432m2 (40,000-80,000 sq ft).
Dixon said: “We’re going there because our customers want us to, but it will be careful and calculated. We’re in no rush to do it.”
He said that the company now has 44 centres averaging 2,323m2 (25,000 sq ft) in the UK and is still planning to take 92,900m2 (1m sq ft) in this country and 185,800m2 (2m sq ft) across Europe.
Dixon said that he still intends to float Regus when it reaches a value of £300m. He was ranked 94th in last week’s Sunday Times Rich List with a value put on the wholly owned company of £250m. “Watch this spot,” he added.
