Regus Plc

Decision Points

Regus plc  is a multinational corporation that provides serviced office accommodation in business centres worldwide. As of March 2010, it operates 983 business centres in 78 countries. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Regus is incorporated in Saint Helier, Jersey, and is headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

In 1989 while on a business trip to Brussels, an English entrepreneur, Mark Dixon, noted the lack of office space available to travelling business people; they were often forced to work from hotels. He identified a need for office space that was maintained, staffed, and available for companies to use on a flexible basis and went on to found his first business center in Brussels in Belgium.

In 1994 Regus entered Latin America with a center in São Paulo and in 1999 it entered Asia with its first center in Beijing.

The Company completed a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.

In 2001 it acquired Stratis Business Centers, a U.S.-based network of franchised business centers, and expanded into the United States market. Later in 2001 the Regus business center on the 93rd floor of South Tower at the World Trade Center was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks; five employees lost their lives. The company was criticized for a lack of response to the victims' families, though a Regus official said they had made "proactive outreach to each and every family of the team members who are missing."

In 2002 the Company sold a controlling stake (58%) of its cornerstone UK business to Rex 2002 Limited, a company created by the private equity firm Alchemy Partners.^[7] This move raised £51 million for the company, which had been facing severe financial difficulties.

In 2003 Regus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its US business, which had been struggling in the wake of the Dot-com bubble. Less than a year later it took its US business out of Chapter 11 after restructuring, financed by its share of the profitable UK business.

The Company acquired HQ Global Workplaces, a global workplace provider based in the U.S. in 2004. The former headquarters of HQ in Addison, Texas became one of Regus' headquarters.

It re-acquired the Regus UK business in 2006 for £88 million, marking the end of a dramatic recovery from the Company's near collapse in 2002. The Company went on to acquire Laptop Lane, a chain of American airport business centers, later that year.

In 2006 the Company entered partnerships with Air France-KLM and American Airlines for preferred access for business travellers and in 2007 it entered a partnership with American Express for preferred access for their Business Platinum cardholders.

In June 2008 Regus introduced Businessworld, a multi-level membership service which allows users flexible access to Regus services in any Regus location worldwide, taking advantage of the Company's international scale. It is aimed at clients who travel frequently.

Effective October 14, 2008, Regus Group plc became Regus plc. Regus plc was created as a holding company for Regus Group plc, in order to establish the Company's headquarters in Luxembourg and its registered office in Jersey. Both Luxembourg and Jersey are business-friendly offshore financial centres. The company had been headquartered in Chertsey, Surrey, England and Addison, Texas, USA.

Despite recording a net loss in the first half of 2010 due to the effects of the global financial crisis, Regus has maintained a policy of expansion, opening new business centers. The company has also renegotiated some leasing agreements with property owners in the UK to save money, warning owners that the vehicles holding the leases could go into administration; this has angered the British property industry, which notes that as a whole Regus is financially strong.

Regus and its brands (HQ and Regus Express) provide serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and videoconferencing to clients on a contract basis. Regus caters to small businesses, large companies with few representatives in a given location, and frequent travellers. The Company operates in 78 countries with 983 business centers, making it the world's largest provider of outsourced workspace. As of March 2010, in the Americas Regus operates 483 business centres in 14 countries, including 400 in the United States. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Regus operates 248 business centres in 45 countries; in Asia and Oceania, 116 centres in 16 countries. Regus employs approximately 5,500 people worldwide. Regus is also one of the sponsors of Fair Spend.