Saba's Gambit: A High-Stakes Bid to Remake Workspace Group

NEW YORK, NY – July 07, 2026 – A fierce battle for the future of Workspace Group plc is escalating, pitting the London-based flexible office provider against one of its largest shareholders, Saba Capital Management. In a detailed public address, the activist investor has sharpened its attack on Workspace's leadership, laying bare a fundamental clash of strategies that holds significant implications for the UK's commercial real estate sector. At the heart of the dispute is a simple yet profound question: in a market under pressure, is the best path to value found by selling assets to reward shareholders now, or by reinvesting for a future that may never arrive?

Saba, the New York-based firm founded by credit derivatives pioneer Boaz Weinstein, has thrown down the gauntlet. Holding a significant stake in the company, it is advocating for a radical overhaul centered on aggressive property disposals to fund a massive share buyback program. This directly challenges the incumbent management's strategy of long-term capital reinvestment into its portfolio. With an Annual General Meeting looming on July 23, shareholders are being forced to choose between two diametrically opposed visions for the company's future.

A Crisis of Confidence

Saba’s case against Workspace management is built on a stark foundation of underperformance. The activist firm points to a grim statistic: a total shareholder return of -48% over the last five years. Compounding the issue is the fact that Workspace's shares trade at what Saba calls the "widest discount to net asset value (NAV) in the sector," a figure that recent analysis places between 45% and 50%. For an investor, this gap represents a glaring inefficiency and a frustrating erosion of value.

"Few would dispute that Workspace has failed its investors," Saba stated bluntly in its recent communication. The firm argues that management's newly unveiled "Fix, Accelerate, Scale" strategy, which involves ploughing capital into property refurbishments, is a high-risk bet on an unproven model. Saba's analysis highlights a critical operational discrepancy: while management projects a 12% yield on cost for this new capex, a review of 15 refurbishment projects between 2016 and 2022 shows the company generated a meager 1.5% yield on cost. This, Saba argues, is an eight-fold difference between promise and historical reality.

Investors appear to share this skepticism. When Workspace announced its reinvestment strategy alongside a dividend cut in April, its shares tumbled approximately 11% over the next two days and have struggled since. The move prompted a series of earnings downgrades from analysts who cited execution risk and the plan's long, uncertain timeline.

Two Blueprints for Value

Saba’s alternative is a masterclass in financial arbitrage. The logic is compellingly simple: sell physical assets at the relatively modest discounts seen in the market (Saba points to Workspace's own recent sales at an average 10% discount) and use the proceeds to buy back company stock trading at a deep 50% discount to its underlying value. Every such transaction, Saba contends, is immediately and significantly accretive to the NAV per share for the remaining shareholders.

To counter claims that its plan is unworkable, Saba detailed a phased disposal strategy developed with UK real estate advisers. The plan involves selling one or two properties within distinct geographic clusters, relocating displaced tenants to other Workspace locations with incentives, and thereby preserving rental income while unlocking capital. The firm claims to have identified 50-75 credible buyers for assets in the £10 million to £30 million range, which it describes as one of the most liquid segments of the market. However, Workspace's board has publicly deemed a rapid wind-down "not achievable," and some market analysts have echoed this, with one calling an accelerated sale in a market "devoid of activity" a "preposterous" notion.

This debate gets to the core of the operational challenge facing all UK REITs. Are they better off holding and upgrading assets for a future rebound in the office market, or should they seize the arbitrage opportunity created by their own depressed stock prices? Saba is betting that disciplined capital recycling is a faster, more certain route to value than waiting for operational improvements that, in its view, have historically failed to materialize.

The Boardroom Battleground

The strategic disagreement has inevitably escalated into a full-blown proxy war. Saba is seeking to oust all six of Workspace's current non-executive directors and replace them with its own slate of nominees. The firm argues that the incumbent board lacks relevant real estate experience, with only one of the six non-executives having a meaningful background in the sector.

Saba's proposed board, including figures like Gautam Garg, who has experience engaging leadership on strategic change, and Nick Shattock, former Deputy CEO of FTSE 250-listed Quintain Estates & Development, is presented as a significant upgrade in expertise. These nominees, Saba insists, have the skills in portfolio optimization, capital allocation, and complex transactions that are critically needed today.

Workspace has pushed back, questioning whether Saba's nominees could be considered truly independent under UK corporate governance standards, given their nomination by a major, and very vocal, shareholder. Saba refutes this, asserting its nominees are "wholly independent" and would have a fiduciary duty to all shareholders. This governance dispute adds another layer of complexity, forcing investors to weigh the value of fresh, specialized expertise against the established principles of board independence.

An Activist's Playbook

Saba's campaign against Workspace is not an isolated event but the latest chapter in a well-honed activist playbook. The firm has a long history of targeting investment funds and companies trading at significant discounts to their NAV. Its recent successes, including a campaign that led to the replacement of the entire board at UK-based Impax Environmental Markets PLC, demonstrate its ability to win shareholder support and execute its strategy. This track record lends significant weight to its threats and adds pressure on the Workspace board.

The outcome of this high-stakes contest may ultimately rest in the hands of a few key players. With Saba holding nearly 25% of the shares, the vote of other major institutional investors will be critical. In particular, the intentions of Nicholas Roditi, a private investor who holds a 29% stake, are being closely watched, with many seeing him as the potential "king-maker" in this dispute.

As the July 23rd AGM approaches, shareholders are left to weigh two starkly different futures. One is a path of patience and reinvestment, led by a new executive team promising a long-term turnaround. The other is a path of immediate financial action, driven by an activist investor promising to unlock value trapped on the balance sheet. The choice they make will not only determine the fate of Workspace Group but will also send a powerful message about the direction of corporate strategy and shareholder power in the UK's challenged real estate market.