Soho House eyes $3.2bn valuation ahead of New York listing

The parent company of the Soho House members club said it is targeting a valuation of about $3.2bn (£2.3bn) as it prepares to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The group, which filed for the initial public offering (IPO) under the name ‘Membership Collective Group’ in June, said it plans to raise as much as $480m (£347m) through the listing.

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 firm’s SEC filing in June, 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 firm, which will sell around 30m shares later this month, began operating as Soho House in London in 1995. It now operates 30 Soho House sites, nine Soho Works and a number of other venues including The Ned in central London.

Jones cashed in $20m of his stake in December last year after the club was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The club’s founder sold a one per cent stake to Ron Burkle, the US billionaire businessman who already owns roughly 60 per cent of the company.

The last year was 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.