Mystery deepens over Indigo stake in Regus

The mystery surrounding a potential bid for Regus, the troubled leasing office company, deepened yesterday after its US predator admitted that the City had been misled over the size of its stake.

In a statement forced by the Takeover Panel, which provided as many questions as answers, Indigo Capital, the New York investment firm, said it had a direct shareholding of just 0.12 per cent in Regus rather than the 12.8 per cent widely believed by the market. In addition, Indigo was previously believed to have been lifting its stake indirectly through Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, the broker, to the tune of more than 13 per cent.

Yesterday, Indigo said Cantor had in fact amassed a 12.67 per cent stake on behalf of the US firm, leading observers to conclude that they had miscalculated the size of Indigo's stake by falsely counting Cantor's stake twice. On Tuesday, in another statement forced by the Takeover Panel, Indigo said it was exploring a possible "recommended takeover" for the UK group.

In yesterday's statement, Indigo said that between 18 December and 7 January it had entered into a number of contracts for differences with Cantor Fitzgerald Europe amounting to 12.67 per cent of the issued share capital.

Indigo also said that it did "not have the right to acquire or to direct the voting of any of the underlying Regus shares represented by these contracts for differences".

Further confusing matters, Cantor said separately that it owned 13.43 per cent of Regus, which industry sources concluded included the stake amassed on behalf of Indigo.