US private equity group Oaktree Capital has taken a controlling stake in Amsterdam-based flexible workspace provider Tribes.
Bringing the New York-listed company on board will allow Tribes to continue its rapid growth. The company was founded in May 2015 and now has nine office locations across the Netherlands. It aims to reach 2,000 locations in 100 countries within 10 years.
Founder Eduard Schaepman and existing shareholders Marcel Boekhoorn and Michiel Mol are retaining a minor shareholding. Schaepman (pictured) told Dutch daily Het Financieel Dagblad that the company needed to find an investment partner once it had acquired nine locations, since each office costs around €1.5-€2 mln to set up.
Oaktree Capital, which has €100 bn of assets under management, 7.5% of it invested in real estate, will give Tribes access to the kind of resources it needs to realise its ambitions plans, Schaepman said. 'It gives us the option of buying real estate. In the provinces especially, that is more favourable than renting.'
Tribes offers flexible, high-specification workplaces that come fully equipped with wi-fi connections, coffee bars, gyms and office support staff. Clients can rent space in a single office or across a number of locations in one country or continent.
The concept is designed to appeal to businesses that operate globally but prefer not to operate a network of branch offices. Tribes is experimenting with other formats, such as hybrid locations that function as office spaces during the day and hotels at night, allowing operators to maximise the value of their assets through flexible usage.
'Right from the beginning Tribes has been about meeting and creating a community,' said Schaepman. 'Tribes Inspiring Places is a meeting place where people can come together, but Tribes will also appear in other formats.'
Dirk Bakker, director of hotels at Colliers International, said flexible working and living spaces had huge potential. 'There's a new trend going on right now in the communities we live in,' he told a PropertyEU investment briefing at the Provada real estate fair in Amsterdam this week. 'Integrating working, sleeping and living is already here and it's going to accelerate.'
