Jersey Mike's sandwich chain targets IPO with a staggering $8 billion valuation, driven by Blackstone

Glonghui July 30｜Early last year, Blackstone invested approximately $6 billion and assumed related debt to acquire a majority stake in Jersey Mike's Subs. At the time, the private equity giant had no intention of easily changing the quality of the chain’s signature sandwiches. Nevertheless, Blackstone set out a series of tasks to address, covering everything from menu adjustments to controlling company expenses. Now, 18 months later, Jersey Mike's brief journey as a private equity-held, non-listed company is about to come to an end. The company is scheduled to debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker “JMKE,” with a valuation of about $8 billion. In this offering, the company and existing investors will sell up to $1.09 billion of shares, making this one of the largest restaurant industry IPOs in the US in recent years. Blackstone’s leveraged buyout saddled Jersey Mike's with an additional $500 million in debt, pushing the total debt to $2.1 billion. This directly led to its annual interest expenses for 2025 soaring to $104 million from $43 million in 2024. Investors do not appear to be concerned about the company’s heavy debt load. According to people familiar with the matter, demand for Jersey Mike’s shares in this offering far exceeds supply. Another person familiar with the matter said that over the past year and a half, a team of more than a dozen Blackstone dealmakers and executives have been laying the groundwork for Jersey Mike's IPO.