Bridges acquires Magenta's Viva

José Rojo
30 November 2015

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London-headquartered Bridges Ventures has acquired a majority stake in Viva Gym, a Spanish low-cost gym franchise created by VC Magenta Partners in 2011.

According to Bridges, Magenta Partners will stay on board as a minority shareholder. The VC house has yet to disclose the stake it held in Viva Gyms since backing its creation in 2011, but reports in the Spanish press placed the holding around the 92.5% mark.

Following Bridges' investment, Viva will look to add new gym facilities to its existing 16 sites over the next five years, with plans to target openings across Spain's largest cities.

The chain expects mounting interest for its low-cost gym offer in the coming years. According to its figures, the segment represents 5% of the global gym market in Spain but is poised to grow at an annual 9% rate until 2020.

Bridges' takeover was financed via its third sustainable growth fund, which closed on £125m in October 2013. The firm's investment was not disclosed, but the vehicle typically deploys £5-15m per deal.

Bridges is no stranger to gym operators. In 2008, the impact investor injected an initial £1m in support of London chain The Gym Group and then led a £20m round for the business. Having been a minority shareholder after a partial sell-off to Phoenix in 2013, Bridges reaped £35m alongside Phoenix during The Gym Group's £250m IPO two weeks ago.

Company
Founded in 2011, Viva Gym is a low-cost gym chain with 60,000 members across 16 centres in 11 Spanish cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga and Zaragoza. The company's most recent turnover figures were not revealed, but Bridges targets assets generating £5-50m in sales.

In its expansion across the country, the company typically seeks to set up facilities of up to 2,000 square meters in cities above the 200,000 population mark. Once up and running, the establishments charge €14.90 to morning users, which increases to €24.90 for those buying an all-day subscription.

People
Bridges Ventures' work on the deal was coordinated by the firm's co-founder and managing director Philip Newborough, who was named chairperson of Viva Gym's board. Tom Matthews is a partner at Magenta Partners and has headed Viva Gym since foundation.

Advisers
Equity - Eversheds, Louise Finnie (Legal); Deloitte (Financial & commercial due diligence, tax).
Company - Shoosmiths, Lynn Knight (Legal).