Soho House confirms it has begun New York listing
The Soho House private members club today announced it has begun the process for a New York stock market listing that could see the business valued at more than $3bn (£2.15bn).
The company, which owns 28 clubs around the world, said that it has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under the name of Membership Collective Group.
In the SEC filing, Soho House used a placeholder figure of $100m for the offering, and did not elaborate further on the size of its IPO.
The company New York flotation is expected to be valued as much as $3bn, bolstered by the anticipated boom in travel and leisure stocks post-pandemic.
“Soho House has begun the process for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, with plans to list a company that will be known as the Membership Collective Group Inc., or MCG for short,” founder Nick Jones said in an email to members.
“This move will enable us to accelerate our investment in improving both the physical and digital elements of your membership,” he added.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley will serve as joint lead book runners for the proposed IPO, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and HSBC as joint book runners. Citibank and William Blair will serve as co-managers.
Soho House, which is billed as an exclusive club for creative types, was valued at $2bn in a funding round last summer.
In a letter accompanying the SEC filing, founder Nick Jones said: “There is so much opportunity for growth, and this IPO means we can share this journey with our members, our teams and our new investors.”
Soho House first considered a Wall Street listing in 2018, and earlier this year rumours began circulating that JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley had been hired to file its IPO.
The last year has been testing for the business. The group was forced to cut 1,000 jobs from its 8,000-strong workforce as well as ask landlords for rent holidays after lockdown restrictions forced the club to close its doors.
Soho House made use of the government’s furlough scheme and $22m in crisis loans backed by the US government.
However, it has remained resilient, with fewer than 10 per cent of its members cancelling their subscriptions in FY 2020, and 30,000 new membership applications for its brands, according to the S-1 filing.
Soho House declined to comment.