Selina market cap collapses from $1.2b to $12m

• Published date: 09 April 2024
• Author: Shiri Habib-Valdhorn
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

Selina listed on Wall Street at the end of 2022 through a SPAC merger with a market cap of $1.2 billion ($942 million before cash). The company was founded by CEO Rafael Museri and Daniel Rudasevski

Initially Selina's business model was to expand rapidly and develop more and more accommodation outlets, even though the company was not profitable. But in 2023, the company changed direction, fired 350 employees and closed down loss-making destinations.

Selina is yet to issue its financial results for 2023 and is expected to publish its expanded report belatedly after the end of April.

Debt settlement

At the end of 2023, Selina announced a debt settlement with bondholders and that it had raised $68 million from Osprey Investments, an affiliate of Global University Systems (GUS), a European higher education platform. Bondholders agreed to postpone repayment of $148 million for three years including interest, while converting some of the shares to shares and options. The move opened the possibility that Osprey could ultimately become the controlling shareholder in Selina and delist the company.

In the 2022 financial report published last April, Museri and Rudasevski held a 37% stake in Selina but assuming Osprey converts debt into shares they could be left with just a few percent of the company...