CC Capital Partners said it does not intend to make an offer for IWG PLC (LON:IWG), denying a media report overnight.
The US private equity group was in 'secret talks' with the owner of the Regus, Spaces and Clubhouse chains of serviced offices and flexible workspace brands, according to Sky.
A potential offer valuing the company at more than £4bn was mooted.
IWG shares dropped on the CC Capital statement but were still up 3% so far on the day at 308.9p.
With IWG owning 3,300-plus locations across over 100 countries, broker Liberum said "we suspect that any PE interest – if true – is looking through short-term trading challenges and toward the longer-term upside potential as employers increasingly shift to hybrid working practices twinned with employee’s growing requirements for quality office space".
The broker's prior analysis of the UK property sector shows that the average of the last five bids was at a 28% premium to the undisturbed share price, which would value IWG at £3.9bn.
"We acknowledge that clearly IWG is not a ‘traditional’ real estate company given ... we still expect some read across to UK office stocks given the rumoured bid interest adds to the belief in both a general return to work and that quality space wins out."
The analysts said in this regard they favour Derwent London (LON:DLN), which stands at an 11% discount to spot NAV, over Great Portland's (LON:GPOR) 8% discount given its relatively more ‘pureplay’ exposure to quality London Offices, while Landsec (LON:LAND), at 31% discount, with circa 60% exposure to Central London offices, "is overly discounting capital value downside to come".