Travelex founder Lloyd Dorfman has funded the management buyout of Bridges Ventures’ majority stake in serviced offices business The Office Group in a deal worth GBP43.3m.
The Office, the concept for which was founded by Charlie Green and Olly Olsen with Bridges Ventures, is a provider of flexible office space with a portfolio of six sites in central London and one in Bristol, totalling 1,350 workstations.
Dorfman says: “This deal brings together two successful businesses that are well placed to expand into what is a growing market. With interests in this sector already I was looking to diversify and it was evident that The Office Group had a very clear, differentiated proposition, an established customer base and a great vision for the future. It is also complementary to Esselco, pitched at a different part of the market, but with experience and learnings that can be exchanged.”
Philip Newborough, chief executive of Bridges Ventures, says: “The Office has been a powerful investment for Bridges Ventures, proving the opportunity we see to build value through investing with our regeneration and environmental criteria. As The Office now enters its next phase of growth, with new investors to assist its expansion, I look forward to seeing its business continue to thrive alongside those of the entrepreneurs who occupy its facilities.”
In keeping with Bridges Ventures’ mission to create a positive social and environmental impact in its investments, The Office’s six freehold buildings and one leasehold building are in regeneration areas.
The Office has an average occupancy rate of 95 per cent and forecasts revenues of GBP7.29m for the year to December 2010. Plans are in place to expand the business and an active search is under way for new sites in London. Moving forward, the two businesses will be run by The Office Group’s founders Olsen and Green.
Cavendish Corporate Finance advised on the sale process.
