The agreement sees IWG buy the interests of existing shareholders of The Instant Group, Bowmark Capital and MML. The Instant Group’s management team will retain a significant equity stake and continue to run the business independently under the leadership of Tim Rodber (CEO) and Nick Land (Chairman).

The Instant Group and IWG will combine their digital assets, enabling the combined business to create a leading workspace marketplace for workers, corporates and workspace owners.

The enhanced marketplace will serve more than 250,000 businesses in 175 countries, operating 24/7 through an integrated platform in more than 40 languages.

The merger will create more than 25,000 workspaces and will offer a range of services to clients including membership plans, virtual offices, office booking, managed offices, and consulting capability.

The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partner Stephen Drewitt with assistance from senior counsel Tim Redman and solicitor Lauren Dooley.

Finance advice was provided by partner Kirstie Hutchinson alongside solicitor Owen Giles with tax expertise coming from partner Jeremy Moncrieff and senior solicitor Catherine Hill. Advice on litigation came from partner Lois Horne and real estate advice came from senior counsel Margaret Rhodes. Partner Malcolm Walton provided advice on commercial and competition aspects of the deal alongside commercial senior solicitor Rosie Duckworth, commercial solicitor Harrison Clark and competition solicitor Tilly Henderson.