Waterland invests in FitOne

A competition authority filing issued in December 2020 stated that Waterland was to acquire a stake in the business. The Harlekin Group had owned the business since 2014.

According to a statement, the Mühleck family is to retain a significant stake in the business. Moritz Mühleck will continue in his role as FitOne's CEO.

Waterland said in a statement that it aims to grow the business organically, as well as via add-on acquisitions of other studios and fitness chains. Mühleck said in the same statement that he is seeing an increasing consolidation in the market from service providers looking to sell their studios.

Waterland is investing in FitOne via Waterland Private Equity Fund VII, which held a final close in August 2017 on €2bn. The fund deploys tickets of €2-25m and invests in mid-market companies based in Europe, aiming to assist their growth via buy-and-build strategies in fragmented markets.

Waterland held a final close for its eighth flagship fund in December 2020 on €2.5bn. The fund will follow the same strategy as its predecessor vehicles, although the larger volume will allow the GP to make more deals, as reported.

Company
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Waldbrunn, FitOne is a chain of fitness studios. The company operates 30 studios, including three in the Vienna region in Austria, and employs 300 staff.

People
Waterland Private Equity – Jörg Dreisow (partner).
FitOne – Moritz Mühleck (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Hengeler Mueller (legal); Deloitte (corporate finance).

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