Quadrant buys Fitness First

Quadrant Private Equity has waded deeper into the gym business, securing Fitness First Australia from Oaktree Capital Management.

The buyout firm is understood to have signed the deal today and it comes after it recently purchased the Goodlife Health Clubs from Ardent Leisure for $260 million along with Jetts Fitness.

The deal was exclusively revealed by The Australian online and comes after the parent company, Oaktree Capital Management, placed the operation up for sale earlier this year.

Jetts Fitness, Goodlife and Fitness First have been secured on the back of Quadrant’s strategy to build a national business in the health and fitness space.

Fitness First Australia has more than 240,000 members who visit 65 clubs more than 15 times a year.

Oaktree secured the global Fitness First operation in 2012 through a £550m debt for equity swap. As of 2014, globally, there are more than 900,000 members.

While the price agreed upon for the asset is unclear, the transaction is thought to be less than $300m.

The purchase comes amid difficult conditions in parts of the gym industry on the back of disruption from the growing popularity of other forms of fitness and growing number of such as CrossFit and 24 operations.