LONDON (Reuters) - Buyout fund Blackstone (N:BX) said on Monday it had agreed to acquire a majority interest in The Office Group (TOG), valuing the flexible workspace provider at about 500 million pounds.
Launched in 2003, TOG provides workspace in 36 buildings, mainly across central London, and has a growing client base of more than 15,000 members. Its clients include AOL, Dropbox, Pinterest, British Gas and Santander (MC:SAN).
"The traditional workspace is being redefined in gateway cities across the globe, as evolving business practices increase demand for flexible office space," said Anthony Myers, Blackstone's head of European real estate.
Lloyd Dorfman, the founder of Travelex who had a majority state in TOG, as well as TOG's co-founders, Charlie Green and Olly Olsen, will remain shareholders after the Blackstone buyout. The deal is expected to close this month.
Green and Olsen will remain TOG's co-chief executives.
Rothschild acted as sole financial adviser to TOG.
Blackstone’s real estate business, founded in 1991, has about $102 billion in investor capital under management. Its assets include Hilton Worldwide and OfficeFirst.
This month it announced the sale of European warehousing giant Logicor to China Investment Corporation (UL:CIC) for 12.25 billion euros (10.72 billion pounds).