WeWork And Ivanhoé’s $3B Property Buying Spree Is On Hold

As it went into the summer, WeWork had a big war chest of equity to spend on buying buildings it occupied. But as with much of its business, that strategy is now on hold. WeWork said in May that it was raising just shy of $750M of equity from investors for its own property fund, and announced it was setting up a joint venture with Canadian pension fund Ivanhoé Cambridge to invest up to $2.9B of equity in real estate assets. Ivanhoé was to provide $1B to the venture, called Ark, which would be managed by WeWork. But at a conference this week, Ivanhoé’s chief investment officer said the venture is on pause while WeWork stabilizes itself following its failed IPO in September and its subsequent cash crunch and bailout by SoftBank.