The 21-story WeWork 21 Collyer Quay was previously occupied by HSBC.
Courtesy of WeWork
WeWork—controlled by billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group—has unveiled its flagship office tower in Singapore as the company expands in the Asian financial hub, which is among its fastest growing markets.
The co-working startup—which listed its shares in New York last October after a failed initial public offering in 2019 just before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the global economy—officially opened its newest property, WeWork 21 Collyer Quay, at the heart of Singapore’s Raffles Place central business district on Tuesday. The facility counts Willis Towers Watson and Singapore-based financial services provider Capital C among its tenants.
“We’ve publicly committed to reaching full profitability by year end as a global organization and Singapore as a market is a core contributor to that target,” said Balder Tol, WeWork’s general manager for Australia and Southeast Asia. Last month, the company reported that its net loss narrowed 31% to $635 million in the second quarter from the year before as revenue rose 37% to $815 million.
Apart from Singapore, London, New York, San Francisco and Sydney are among WeWork’s key markets, according to Tol. WeWork 21 Collyer Quay, a 21-story skyscraper previously occupied by HSBC has a gross floor area of over 220,000 square feet (20,400 square meters), making it the firm’s largest facility in Asia Pacific. With 14 locations across Singapore, the city-state accounts for about half of the company’s total office space in Asia Pacific and is a key contributor to the company’s growth.
Singapore continues to attract multinational companies seeking to base their regional offices in the Lion City, which also aims to attract tap caliber global talent with the introduction of a new five-year work visa. Occupancy rates at WeWork’s offices in the city are at about 90%, surpassing the group’s average occupancy of 72% globally.