Altor's Elixia merges with Sats and Fresh Fitness

Altor Equity Partners, via Altor Fund III, will own 51% of the shares in the combined entity together with Elixia's other shareholders, while TryghedsGruppen will own 49%.

The new combined holding company will adopt the Health & Fitness Nordic name of the holding company currently held by TryghedsGruppen.

The merger, which is subject to customary regulatory requirements and approvals, is part of TryghedsGruppen's new investment strategy, where the company's aim is to become co-owner of large, cash-generative companies.

The group will launch new club formats, applications and offerings.

Altor contacted TryghedsGruppen two years ago regarding the merger and negotiations took around six months to complete.

Altor acquired Elixia for SEK 2bn through an auction in 2011. TryghedsGruppen acquired Sats from Nordic Capital in 2006. TryghedsGruppen also owns Fresh Fitness, Safe and Metropolis.

Company
The merged group of Swedish and Norwegian fitness clubs will continue to operate under the brands Sats, Elixia, Fresh Fitness, Safe and Metropolis. Safe and Metropolis provide specialist fitness education.

The newco will include 181 fitness centres with nearly 500,000 members. It has in excess of 2,000 employees and a combined turnover close to NOK 2.5bn.

People
Reynir Indahl is a partner at Altor and chairman of Elixia. Jørn Wendel Andersen is CEO of TryghedsGruppen. Olav Thorstad is CEO of TryghedsGruppen's Health & Fitness Nordic. Ståle Angel is the CEO of Elixia. Indahl will become chairman of the merged company and Andersen will become vice-chairman.

Advisers
Equity (Altor Equity Partners) – Wiersholm (Legal); UBS (Corporate finance); PwC (Financial due diligence).
Equity (TryghedsGruppen) – Kromann Reumert (Legal); FIH Partners (Corporate finance); Deloitte (Financial due diligence).

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