Update October 28, 2015
We just received confirmation that Businessuites has indeed sold to Regus. The deal is set to close this Friday, October 30th.
About a couple of weeks ago, we heard that Regus had bought Businessuites, the second of Preferred Office Network’s three original founders.
Since then, we’ve been trying to get to truth of this rumor. We emailed Regus’ PR team; and got no reply. So we emailed John Jordan, Businessuites’ President, and again, we received no reply. Hmmm, the silence is starting to sound like an official NDA inspired ‘silent period’ before a closing.
We couldn’t stop there, so we looked at their websites with the hopes of finding if there were any hints and clues regarding this quiet purchase by Regus–which we’ve learned is how they like to operate. Back in April, Regus bought Abby Suites, and it wasn’t until a few weeks later that they went public about the transaction.
Our findings, though not conclusive, do point to the fact that a change has indeed happened with Businessuites–particularly in regards to their relationship with Preferred Office Network.
[ezcol_2fifth]1. Businessuites is no longer listed as Preferred Network Office Member in the latter’s website
Considering Businessuites was one of Preferred Office Network’s founders, we find it highly interesting that they are suddenly not a member anymore. We took some screenshots of the the listed members, but you can check out the list for yourself here. [/ezcol_2fifth] [ezcol_1fifth]
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2. Businessuites’ website still shows that they are a member of Preferred Office Network
Curious, don’t you think? Either Preferred Office Network had a slip while updating their page, or Businessuites forget to completely update their site. (Screenshot taken October 19th, 10:00 a.m. EST) (update: October 22nd, 4:00 p.m. Businessuites has finally taken this down)
We tried to get in touch with Preferred Office Network hoping they could clarify the member status of Businessuites, but again, we received no answer.
3. Regus’ website doesn’t yet show their new acquired locations
It appears that Regus has not yet made available their new locations to the public–Businessuites locations included Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
However, this doesn’t convince us that Regus didn’t buy Businessuites–quite the contrary, we’re thinking Regus and Businessuites are still working on the finer details of the buy.
The question remains as to when the announcement will be made of Regus’ continued expansion in different markets through the acquisition of smaller office space providers. Just this year, they took over Avanta–a large UK operator–and Abby Executive Suites–an operator in Texas with a location in New Orleans.
We’ll be keeping an eye on Regus and their moves within the industry. If we can be sure about one thing, it is that Regus plans to continue to expand, and according to their 2015 Interim Results Presentation, they’re still on track to create (or acquire) a total of 600 new locations by the end of the year.
