Soho House sold to consortium as actor joins board – Daily Business

Private members’ club chain Soho House, which once planned a lavish outlet in Glasgow, has been acquired for $1.8bn (£1.3bn) by a consortium involving Hollywood actor turned investor Ashton Kutcher.

Loved by rock stars and royals, Soho House has agreed to be taken private, ending a turbulent period as a listed company.

The consortium is led by MCR Hotels, the third-biggest US hotel group, whose high profile properties include the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York and the BT Tower in London. The deal to return Soho House to private ownership was done by private equity firm Apollo.

Existing Soho House shareholders will hold onto their stakes in the company. They include founder Nick Jones, husband of the Scottish television presenter Kirsty Young, as well as Ivy Collection restaurant chain boss Richard Caring.

Kutcher will become a board member, as will the boss of MCR, Tyler Morse.

Soho House opened its first club in London in 1995, and there are now has 46 in Europe, North America and Asia, as well a string of other up-market hospitality businesses.

It had planned to open a club in Glasgow as part of the Love Loan development, but it was scrapped last year. The company is said to retain interest in other potential locations in the city.

There are plans for a Mollie’s Motel and Diner, a hotel chain by Nick Jones, near South Gyle station on the western edge of Edinburgh.

Soho House is a popular haunt of A-list celebrities, and one of its London venues was reportedly where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their first date.

The first Soho House, opened by Mr Jones, was in London’s Greek Street above his restaurant, Cafe Boheme.

But since it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 the value of its shares has dropped sharply, as it struggled to make a profit amid a sense that it had lost the exclusivity it once had.

The agreed offer price of $9 a share is 18% higher than the price at close of trade on Friday. However, it is still below the peak of $14.21 per share which was reached in August 2021.