Office giant IWG could move listing to New York
Shared office giant IWG signals it could become latest firm to leave its UK listing for New York
Shared office giant IWG has indicated it could become the last firm to leave its UK listing for New York.
Chief executive Mark Dixon told The Mail on Sunday that the FTSE 250 company could not “rule out” a move across the Atlantic.
It’s because a growing number of big companies are snapping up the London Stock Exchange by floating or switching their listing to Wall Street. This includes Cambridge-based microchip designer Arm and building materials group CRH.
Switch allegiances?: Chief executive Mark Dixon said FTSE 250 firm could not ‘rule out’ a move across the Atlantic
Monaco-based billionaire Dixon founded IWG, formerly Regus, in 1989 and brought it to the LSE in 2000. It flirted a few years ago with the idea of a publicly traded US spin-off to challenge US rival WeWork, but there nothing came of it.
Dixon said IWG was one of several UK companies considering relocating to the US given the market conditions, adding: ‘We are a public company and our board takes all of these into account. We are always thinking about our shareholders and how to get the best value for them. We’re not ruling it out.’
A possible signal from the company’s plan is that IWG is considering converting its accounts from pounds to dollars this year. Dixon said this stems from concerns about the volatility of the British pound, especially after last year’s mini budget, which caused a drastic drop in the pound.
But he also stressed that more than 50 percent of IWG’s sales now come from the US.
LSE chief David Schwimmer said this month that, despite reforms to UK financial rules, there was no silver bullet to reverse the trend of companies choosing New York over London.