Swiss company IWG plans to tap into commercial property market

International Workplace Group, or IWG, the world's largest provider of hybrid working solutions by sales revenue, will deploy more resources to tap into the commercial property market by building more partnerships with domestic players, said a senior executive.

Hybrid working solutions refer to a group of workers that are distributed across various locations, from traditional offices and factory spaces to remote locations, including within employee homes. Such a model offers employees flexibility and choice and has driven new approaches to agility, collaboration and ways of working over the past two decades.

The Swiss group said that many opportunities have come from a growing number of companies' adoption of nimble real estate strategies and businesses' surging demand for office space, especially those from technology and telecommunications, as well as energy and infrastructure sectors this year.

Edward Hu, managing director of IWG China, said these factors present the Swiss group with more opportunities. The company remains optimistic that the recovery in China will pick up steam in the next few quarters.

IWG to date has developed more than 20 brands, such as Regus, Spaces and HQ, with nearly 4,000 centers in more than 120 countries and regions globally. It sales revenue amounted to 3.1 billion pounds ($4.04 billion) in 2022, marking the pinnacle of its 34-year history.

"Our goal is to expand our reach and cover a wider range of geographic areas, including not just first-tier cities and provincial capitals, but also lower-tier cities," said Hu, adding that IWG plans to accelerate the opening of new centers, primarily via its partnership program.

"Through this program, IWG can leverage its brand influence and operational expertise to enable better returns on investment for property owners. Our partners are not only individual commercial property owners, but also conglomerates such as Wanda Group and a number of State-owned enterprises who own and operate many office buildings in various cities across China," he added.

In addition to signing a management agreement for its brand Regus with Shanghai-based West Group to better accommodate the soaring demand of flexible working space earlier this month, IWG announced in mid-July a strategic partnership with Wanda Hotels and Resorts, a business unit of Chinese private conglomerate Wanda Group, as the demand for hybrid working solution continues to soar across China.

The partnership between the two companies will accelerate the growth of the IWG network across China which already has more than 120 locations, said the Swiss company.