Mark Dixon, founder and chief executive of IWG, has sold a significant stake in the serviced office company, worth £68.5m, to repay a bank loan. Despite the sale, Dixon (64 years old) still maintains a 25.2% stake in the company.
Dixon disposed of 35 million shares at just under 196p per share through Estorn Limited, his wholly-owned investment vehicle. The shares were pledged as collateral for a loan from Deutsche Bank obtained in December, the details of which were not disclosed.
The sale, carried out by IWG's largest shareholder, caused an uproar among investors, resulting in a significant decline in IWG's stock price. Shares fell 14%, or 6.9%, to 192% during afternoon trading, marking their worst performance since March of the previous year.
Leveraging stocks as collateral is a common practice among wealthy businessmen. Notable examples include Elon Musk, who used Tesla stock to take out personal loans, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork, a competitor to IWG. Previously, Dixon had pledged shares in Regus, IWG's predecessor, in exchange for a £7.7m loan from Merrill Lynch, repaid in June 2009.
Dixon founded IWG in 1989, starting with an office in Brussels to cater to executives who needed temporary office space. The company has since expanded to operate 3,500 offices in 120 countries. After the pandemic, Dixon pivoted IWG toward a “capital-light” model, forming partnerships with landlords to manage office space rather than owning or leasing it directly. This approach reflects the strategy of Marriott, which manages hotels rather than owns them.
Over the years, Dixon has sold hundreds of millions of pounds worth of IWG shares, including a £27.5 million sale in 2005 for a divorce settlement. Following the recent sale, Dixon's remaining stake in IWG is valued at approximately £490m. The latest Sunday Times Rich List estimated Dixon's wealth at £923 million, making him the 177th richest person in Britain.