Soho House Finds New Backing, Putting Deal To Go Private Back On The Table
Members-only club Soho House has found new funding to take the company private, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.
The $2.7B deal to take Soho House private looked poised to collapse last week, after lead equity partner MCR Hotels said it couldn’t put up the $200M closing commitment it had previously pledged.
But the social club’s fate changed Wednesday when its controlling company, Yucaipa Cos., found a new way to come up with the funds, according to Soho House’s latest SEC filing.
Morse Ventures, an entity owned by MCR CEO Tyler Morse, put up a new $50M equity commitment, in addition to the $50M it committed to under the original agreement, HotelDive first reported.
Soho House will also use an amended rollover stock agreement to shore up another $50M and will increase unsecured note facilities to generate approximately $220M, per the filing.
MCR’s partner in the deal, Apollo Global Management, will reduce its equity commitment from $50M to $30M.
Shares in the company rebounded by almost 13% after the closing bell rang Wednesday, bringing prices just a few cents below their value before the Jan. 8 announcement that its funding deal had collapsed.
In spite of the uncertainty over the company’s future, Soho House’s shareholders were set in their resolve to execute the merger last Friday morning. An almost unanimous majority voted in favor of taking the company private one day after the original funding deal fell apart, SEC filings show.
Soho House, MCR and Apollo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The members-only club was founded in 1995 and went public in 2021. It has 50 locations globally, with U.S. locations including New York City, Miami and Los Angeles.
The merger taking Soho House private was first disclosed in December 2024 and was expected to close within a year. As part of the deal, Morse bought Soho House shares that weren’t already held by shareholders at an 83% premium to the stock’s price at the time.
