Selina Announces SPAC Merger Worth $1.2 billion
Main Photo: Selina Granada
Date: December 2021
Name: Selina Hospitality
Locations: North America, South America, Middle East and Europe
Number of Keys: 22,400 with plans to add 40,000 more keys by 2025
Owner: Selina Hospitality
Investor/Merger Partner: BOA Acquisition Corp
Selina is planning to go public via a SPAC merger with BOA Acquisition Corp at an expected value of around $1.2 billion.
Trading under the name of Selina Hospitality with a ticker of SNLA on the New York Stock Exchange, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022. Selina operates over 130 properties across North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.
The funding will support Selina in its ambition to add 40,000 new beds to its portfolio by 2025. The company has already raised funding of about £350 million, including $100 million in April 2019 and an additional $60 million during the pandemic.
Rafael Muser, CEO of Selina, said: “We are seeking to redefine the future of accommodation by creating a brand and curating experiences that strongly resonate with our customers. Millennials and Gen Z travellers are looking for authenticity and top-tier experiences at every step – they want to be immersed in the local culture of each location they visit.
By partnering with local artisans to design culturally relevant and inspiring destinations, we’re creating opportunities for them to forge lifelong connections within the rapidly expanding Selina community. We’ve spent the last six years building and scaling an efficient and differentiated platform, and this transaction will enable us to bring Selina to more locations and travellers across the world.”
Selina has launched a subscription service called Nomad Passport after acquiring Remote Year in 2020. The passport offers a 30-night prepaid stay which can be used in a four-month window, with different tiers allowing greater flexibility between locations.
Brian Friedman, CEO of BOA, said: “Selina is cornering a large addressable market by providing accommodations and experiences that aren’t readily replicated. The platform is highly efficient with the capability to scale rapidly and produce attractive unit economics. The Selina brand transcends hospitality and has created a loyal community and lifestyle that customers want to belong to, long after their first stay.
The company has proven it can deliver for both its guests and its real estate partners. We anticipate Selina will continue to build on its significant growth in the coming years as the ability to work from anywhere propels travellers to experience the world in a way their elders never could – as digital nomads.”
Price: $1.2 billion
Price per Key: $50,000
THPT Comment: Further proof of investor interest in the lifestyle sector. It forecasts 101,600 beds in 2025, but this will depend, in part, on supply and demand. As Skift says, “More than anything, Selina’s ambitions depend on long-distance remote working remaining relatively common post-pandemic. That’s a gamble.”
First Seen: Boutique Hotel News
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