ICL: to outsource or not to outsource...

ICL has reawakened its interest in property outsourcing by establishing negotiations with Integrated Workplace Solutions (IWS), a consortium led by Comax, Regus and Deutsche Bank.

The company is looking to outsource its portfolio of approximately 120 properties to an FM company, leaving it free to concentrate on core business.

Previous negotiations with service provider Nomura were broken off in November 1998 when the two parties could not settle on a price. Following this, ICL has spoken to a number of companies to progress its plans of outsourcing its primary leasehold property portfolio.

ICL is the first of many UK organisations which may consider the option offered by corporate PFI-style deals. The Government has already paved the way with major infrastructure investments through outsourcing schools, hospitals, bridges and roads.

If the ICL deal takes place, the contract is expected to be signed by March 2000 and should be worth £1 billion pounds over a ten year period.

This first private sector PFI deal could lead other UK companies to take a step in the same direction.