Jersey Mike's, the New Jersey-founded sub sandwich chain with more than 3,300 locations across the US, has recently completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.  

As part of this US-based IPO, Jersey Mike’s was able to tap into UK retail investors, becoming the second international consumer brand to benefit from the newly established UK Public Platform Operator (POP) regime via Winterflood, a division of Marex.

The transaction enabled Jersey Mike’s to access UK retail investors, channelled through intermediaries including Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor and AJ Bell, using Winterflood’s Retail Access Platform (WRAP).  

Following the SpaceX IPO, this transaction also marks Winterflood's latest use of the POP regime to enable a high-profile international consumer listing to UK retail investors.

Investor appetites: a humble brand with a global growth story

Jersey Mike's has built its reputation on an asset-light franchise model, with roughly 99% of its locations independently owned and operated, and same-store sales that have grown for nearly two decades running. The company is now taking that model internationally, with plans for stores across the UK, Ireland and Canada in the years ahead. Jersey Mikes is a growth story that resonated with a UK retail audience increasingly looking to back international consumer brands before they become British household names.

"Jersey Mike's is another interesting use of the POP regime," said Joe Winkley, Head of Corporate Services at Winterflood. "It's a growth story that's easy to understand, with an international expansion plan that includes the UK directly. When you combine that with a straightforward route for retail investors to participate on the same terms as institutions, you can see how the POP regime can work to facilitate a broader range of UK investment.

Behind the scenes of WRAP: from aggregation to allocation and settlement  

As with SpaceX, WRAP brought together all UK retail demand for the Jersey Mike's offer in one place. Orders from participating intermediaries were pooled through WRAP and fed into the main offer book, with the platform applying banks' allocation rules, including minimum fills, scale-backs and maximum caps, consistently across all retail accounts.

"Every retail investor in this offer was treated on the same basis as the last, at scale and in a matter of seconds," said Sophia Bechev, Head of WRAP Execution at Winterflood. "That's the value WRAP brings to an issuer and its banks: a single, well-governed channel for retail demand that doesn't add complexity to the transaction timetable."

Settlement was managed fully in-house by Marex, from order aggregation through to final allocation and delivery, maintaining consistency with WRAP's position as a complete, end-to-end solution.

Serving the deal: WRAP with a side of POP

Jersey Mike's follows SpaceX as the second major international consumer IPO this year to include UK retail investors via the POP regime, with a framework that allows a regulated POP operator, rather than the issuer, to take on the disclosure and due diligence obligations needed to protect retail investors, removing the need for a standalone UK prospectus or a London dual listing.

"We said after SpaceX that this wouldn't be a one-off," said Winkley. "Jersey Mike's shows the model can be used across a range of sectors, not just for tech or AI transactions. The opportunity now is for this to become routine practice for international issuers who want UK retail involved from day one, rather than an afterthought."

Winterflood is adeptly positioned bring further international IPOs, secondary fundraisings, and corporate bond offerings to UK retail investors via WRAP as more issuers and their advisers look to include retail participation as standard.

For more information on Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP), contact Joe Winkley, Head of Corporate Services at Winterflood.