Shares in IWG jumped by nearly 24% in the first half of this month as news broke that the company is looking to take itself off the stock market after 17 and a half years, prompting hopes that a bidding war to privatise the company may be on the cards.

The firm has announced that it has been approached by three investors and is currently in talks with Lonestar, Starwood Capital and TDR Capital regarding a potential sale.

The office giant has almost 3,000 centres across 115 countries, but has suffered from a rather difficult few years with a lot of competition from trendier workplace providers such as WeWork entering the market, and indeed encountered a somewhat major setback just a few weeks ago after Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp and Brookfield Asset Management backed out of an acquisition deal, causing shares to plummet by over 15%.

Andrew Brooke, analyst at RBC Europe, says: “We believe the business would be better off in private hands as it can grow the estate without worrying about short-term earnings.”

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