Deal profile | Gadens continues to support Viva Leisure with its exponential growth

Following its successful IPO earlier this year, Viva Leisure continues to further establish its position as one of the fastest growing health club owners and operators in Australia. Gadens is pleased to have worked with Viva Leisure on the successful acquisition of 13 Fit N Fast health clubs and $20 million capital raise.

Viva Leisure operates health clubs across the Australian eastern seaboard with brand names under its banner including Club Lime, HIIT Republic and Gymmy PT.

Backing up its successful listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in June 2019, where Viva Leisure raised $20 million in what has been touted as the fifth-best performing IPO of the 2019 calendar year, Viva Leisure’s latest capital raise was strongly supported by the market in what has been another solid showing for the health club operator.

Gadens acted as Advisors to Viva Leisure through all aspects of the transaction as well as the capital raise and its ASX requirements together with lead manager Ord Minnett, synergising both work-streams between partners Jeremy Smith and Jol Rogers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Jeremy Smith said “It has been a pleasure to continue working together with the Viva team. Viva’s energetic management team, excellent systems and member focus have been paramount in its exponential growth and we look forward to supporting Viva Leisure with its further growth and success in 2020”.

Deal value: AUD $13.5 million and $20 million capital raise.  

Deal area: Corporate

Practice groups involved: Corporate, Employment Advisory and Property.

Key team members: Gadens Partners Jeremy Smith and Jol Rogers led the team, supported by Partners, Andrew Kennedy (Property) and Siobhan Mulcahy (Employment Advisory). The team comprised Senior Associates, Steven Wambeek (Corporate) and Emma Moran (Employment Advisory), and Lawyers, James Langanis (Corporate) and Jeremy Bouton (Property).

Deal significance:

Viva Leisure’s CEO and Managing Director, Harry Konstantinou said in its market announcement on 2 December 2019:

“The acquisition of Fit N Fast expands on and continues to cement Viva Leisure’s position as a leading and fast-growing health club owner and operator in the Australian market. FnF is a highly complementary business to Viva Leisure, and there are considerable back-office synergies available to capitalise on, as well as the ability to implement Viva Leisure’s unique hub-and-spoke model and bespoke information technology systems to further increase the performance of the FnF locations and business.”