MORNING NEWS: WeWork out, new flex start up in

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals. When WeWork first tried to hire Wybo Wijnbergen, he thought the flexible office company sounded boring and then – as he heard more about its European expansion plans – crazy. But now, eight years after he was convinced to join as managing director for northern Europe and three after he left, he is using every lesson, good and bad, to build his own co-working company. That company is InfinitSpace, co-founded by chief executive Wijnbergen and his brother Wilco. In a twist of fate, it is making a name for itself taking on office space vacated by WeWork. And that vacated space just keeps adding up. Two more WeWorks are set to close this month, as EG reveals that tenants have been asked to leave 22 Long Acre, WC2, and 131 Finsbury Pavement, EC2, by the end of March. The £4bn merger of LondonMetric and LXi completed this morning with LXi’s Nick Leslau taking up a non-executive director role in Andrew Jones’s business. Jones labelled the merger “transformational”, saying it had created the UK’s leading triple net lease REIT with full occupancy and “exceptional” income longevity. “The new larger business will deliver better liquidity, material economies of scale, substantial cost savings with improved terms in both debt and equity markets. Our enlarged balance sheet will also allow better access to new opportunities of scale, which will drive accelerated earnings and dividend progression,” he said. No Buffettisms were included in his update to the market, however. In the national newspapers this morning, IWG’s bumper results off the back of continued demand for hybrid working and how the British love for for a Greggs sausage roll was helping fuel the bakery chain’s growth dominated the headlines from a property perspective. But EG readers will have read those stories yesterday.  And if you’re headed to MIPIM next week, spare a moment (and maybe a pound or two) for the intrepid cyclists who set off on the 1,500km Club Peloton Cycle to MIPIM this morning. Each rider is raising money to help transform the lives of those less fortunate than us. And they’ll be doing that while likely having to spend hours and hours each day cycling into a headwind. They’ll struggle so others don’t have to. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:LondonMetric completes “transformational” merger with LXiJTRE London hires new operations directorMeet the flex start-up picking up ex-WeWork officesCOMMENT: The chancellor must keep his party’s promisesCity Wharf moves forward as Dandara gets consentMaking a difference: Meet the riders cycling to MIPIMCOMMENT: Misinformation about RAAC could do more damage than goodGreen light for Smithfield Riverside’s new public park2,500-acre Northumberland estate up for grabsWeWork in talks to exit City and West End officeFourth month of private sector growth points to end of recession (£)High hopes for City deals as M&A market thaws (£)EG Group in talks to sell some UK assets to co-founder Zuber Issa (£)How nightlife died in Sadiq Khan’s London (£)The cause of Britain’s housing woes has been staring the Tories in the face (£)Record number of cash offers show New York property is only for the rich (£)Banks with heavy commercial property exposure see bonds get hit (£)