Today Jordy Kool and Marjolijn Meijer, founders of My Local Gym Group, announced the acquisition of Fitness4me, a fitness chain in Amsterdam and Bussum. Hogenhouck m&a advised My Local Gym Group in this transaction.
Near future
This acquisition is in line with the previously announced acquisition strategy of Kool and Meijer, who are also at the helm of Urban Gym Group and Gymwarehouse. Meijer: “The current range of fitness, classes, PT and facilities in Amsterdam will remain unchanged for the time being. We will, however, implement improvements that positively influence the customer experience. We think that the customers will be very happy with the investments we will make in, for example, the equipment.” At Fitness4me Bussum we will not make any changes for the time being. Meijer: “In terms of location, target group and offer, this club fits in perfectly with My Local Gym Group’s vision that clubs should meet the wishes of the local population”.
Urban Gym Group
Kool: “We are also actively speaking to acquisition candidates for Urban Gym Group. We see an increased demand for the TrainMore concept in the major cities; training on state-of-the-art equipment and a customer-oriented approach. We strive for our members to be the first to experience the latest fitness trends.” Urban Gym Group’s business model consists of several fitness concepts and more than 30 clubs, including urban fitness playground TrainMore, premium gym Clubsportive and High Studios, focused on High Intensity Interval Training. Earlier this year, High Outdoors, High Ride, High Flow (yoga) and Personal Training were launched. Kool and Meijer also announced an exclusive franchise agreement with boutique chain Trib3. They aim to open twenty clubs in the next five years.
Gymwarehouse
The third organization that Kool and Meijer founded is Gymwarehouse. This company refurbished shortly used fitness equipment and sells it to smaller studios and consumers. Kool, who previously grew the largest IT refurbisher in Europe Infotheek from 55 to 750 million euros and recently sold Centralpoint to the Swedish Dustin for 425 million euros: “The parallels with the IT market are striking. The fitness market is now where the IT market stood ten years ago: taking responsibility for sustainability, a fair valuation and professionalization in business operations. We are open to discussions with companies that are considering a sale.”
