The battle for world domination in the serviced office sector is hotting up.

CarrAmerica, the US parent company of HQ Global Workplaces, has announced plans for a merger between HQ and another player, Vantas Incorporated, which is owned by business-to-business specialist FrontLine Capital.

When the merger is complete, HQ will have an estimated value of $1bn and a network of over 460 office centres in 17 countries. FrontLine will own over 80% of the company, with the remainder in CarrAmerica's hands.

Many of FrontLine's other interests are in e-commerce and e-business services, which are likely to be bundled with HQ's offerings in the future.

Meanwhile, over at competitor Regus it has been announced that more than 35,000sqm of new business centre floorspace in Europe and the US was acquired in December alone. The company has also moved into Australia, opening three centres - bringing its grand total to 260 sites in 46 countries.

Regus intends to continue growing through 2000: it plans to open a new site, on average, every three days.

Elliott Chase