It is finally happening and serves as another sign that the hotel industry is rebounding from the pandemic: Soho House, long rumored to want to test the public market, filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday under the name Membership Collective Group (MCG) Inc.
The London-based company founded by Nick Jones used US$100 million as a placeholder figure to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.
The move by the private membership platform and hotel company, founded in 1995 and yet to turn an annual profit, is intended to accelerate growth and improve the existing infrastructure. The MCG platform is comprised of 28 Soho Houses, nine Soho Works, The Ned in London, Scorpios Beach Club in Mykonos, interiors and lifestyle retail brand Soho Home, and related digital platforms. As of April 4, the group had over 119,000 members.
Soho House raised US$100 million in 2019 for a 5% stake, which would equate to a valuation of approximately US$2 billion.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley will serve as joint lead book runners for the proposed offering. Goldman Sachs & Co., BofA Securities and HSBC will be joint book runners. Citibank will serve as a co-manager.