Hospitality company Selina made its debut as a publicly listed company on Thursday following the completion of its merger with special purpose acquisition company BOA.
It marks the beginning of a new growth phase for the company which aims to capitalise on the resurgence of travel amongst Millennial and Gen Z travellers.
Selina Co-Founder and CEO, Rafael Museri, described it as a major milestone for the business.
“The completion of this transaction is further validation of our highly differentiated hospitality offering, we can scale the brand and our unique destinations to travelers and locals around the world like never before,” Museri said.
“We look forward to leveraging this capital to drive long-term profitable growth, introduce new offerings that facilitate meaningful connections, and enhance our technology to support our rapid global expansion.”
Last December, Selina signed a deal to go public by merging with BOA Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company that raised $200 million in an initial public offering in February 2021.
“Selina is one of the few hospitality companies that is truly revolutionizing travel and is addressing a meaningful market need,” said BOA Acquisition Corp President and CFO, Ben Friedman.
“We are proud to have played a role in helping this dynamic lifestyle brand go public, and look forward to continuing our collaboration with Rafi and the rest of Selina’s talented team as they grow the Selina platform and execute their strategy to achieve profitability.”
Through the business combination, Selina is expected to gain US$54 million in capital via its private placement financing, and US$118 million from subscriptions to the US$147.5 million principal amount of senior unsecured convertible notes due 2026 to help fund operations and support plans to achieve profitability.
The lifestyle hotel company recently reported a first half revenue increase of 142% and a rise in occupancy of 60% compared to the same period in 2021.
“We continue the positive momentum to a record year ahead; we keep being true to our mission by connecting our brand to local guests, remote workers, and digital nomads,” said Museri.
The Panama-born brand made its Australian debut in May 2022 with the launch of Selina Central Melbourne and Selina St Kilda. It has since opened a property in Brisbane’s CBD.
“We opened 3,368 bedspaces within 13 properties in Greece, Australia, Portugal, Panama, the United States, Morocco and Israel,” Museri added.
“We also signed 7,374 bedspaces within 17 new properties and expansions across Australia, the United States, Greece, Mexico, Portugal, Panama and Israel. This brings the total count at the end of H1 2022 to 163 open and secured locations in 25 countries across six continents.”
The combined company will continue to be led by Museri alongside the rest of the current Selina management team.