JPMorgan in pole position to conduct WeWork IPO after debt offering: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) – WeWork's owner, The We Company, has called on JPMorgan Chase & Co to lead a next loan, placing the bank at the top of the public offering's anticipated initial public offering this year. according to sources close to the file. .

WeWork would like to see debt investment work begin as early as next week, although this may change as regulatory hurdles need to be removed, sources said.

WeWork has not formally engaged banks for the IPO, but those involved in the process hope that the role of any lender in the offering of debt securities will have a direct impact on its role in the introduction into purse, said sources who requested anonymity because the details are private.

Other banks, including Goldman Sachs, are also expected to play a leading role in the IPO, the sources said.

WeWork plans to raise between $ 5 billion and $ 6 billion as part of the bond offering, and to make it public in September, Reuters said last month.

Conducting the WeWork IPO would be a good move for JPMorgan and would mean it would rank first on two of the top three IPOs in 2019, after leading the preparations for Lyft Inc's listing. March. The rival Morgan Stanley was the main bank of the IPO of Uber Technologies Inc. in May.

According to Refinitiv data, Goldman Sachs will be listed as a US IPO for this year starting August 1, followed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

The We company, based in New York and founded in 2010, was recently valued at $ 47 billion, making it one of the largest private companies in the world.

WeWork has helped popularize coworking, with a focus on startups, entrepreneurs and freelancers, and has received significant support from some of the world's largest investors, including the Japanese group SoftBank .

Despite its strong growth, the company had to question the sustainability of its business model, which is based on short-term revenue agreements and long-term debt liabilities.

In both valuation and losses, The We Company echoes both Uber and Lyft, whose shares have struggled since their IPO this year due to issues related to their path to profitability. .

Representatives from The We Company and JPMorgan have not responded to e-mails sent by Reuters. A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.