3i reaps £89m in Basic-Fit IPO

The share price was set at €15 per share. 3i's stake in the group has been reduced from 44.4% to 23.7% through the listing.

As part of the offering, 26.7 million shares have been placed by the company and its shareholders, generating gross proceeds of €400m and implying a market cap of €820m.

Total gross proceeds for 3i amount to approximately £89m and 3i's remaining 23.7% stake is worth approximately £153m. The flotation will bring 3i's cash return on investment to 1.1x from Basic-Fit, or 3x including the value of its remaining stake.

Basic-Fit expanded significantly with 3i's backing, increasing its number of gym clubs by 199 to the current figure of 350 across the Benelux region, France and Spain.

The group announced its intention to float in May this year. ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offering. Barclays, Deutsche Bank and ING acted as joint bookrunners, and KBC, NIBC and Rabobank as co-lead managers. Lazard acted as financial adviser.

Previous funding
In November 2013, 3i invested €97m in the MBO of Basic-Fit in a deal valuing the business at €275m.

The firm invested alongside the company's founder and CEO Rene Moos and members of the management team. As a result of the transaction, Moos and co-founder Eric Wilborts retained significant minority stakes, while CFO Hans Van der Aars became a new shareholder.

Basic-Fit was acquired in 2010 by Health City International Group, which was itself acquired by Waterland Private Equity Investments in June 2005 for €12m. Waterland divested the Health City business in 2013 in a management buy-back through which the founders acquired Waterland's 50% stake in the Health City/Basic-Fit group.

Company
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam, Basic-Fit is a Dutch low-cost fitness club network operating 350 gyms across the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and France. Membership rates start from €15.95. Basic-Fit claims to be the largest fitness centre chain in Europe, and currently counts 500,000 members.

Basic-Fit reported a €202.2m turnover and €60.1m adjusted EBITDA in 2015.

People
3i – Pieter de Jong (partner/managing director Benelux operations); Robert Van Goethern (partner).

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