General Atlantic invests in Gymshark at £1bn valuation

The firm is currently investing from its General Atlantic Investment Partners 2017 fund, which closed on $3.3bn in March 2013.

In conjunction with General Atlantic's investment, Gymshark founder Ben Francis is increasing his stake in the company to more than 70%, while the firm will take 21%. The is the company's first institutional funding round.

First round bids for the minority stake were collected in early July, according to a report by Unquote sister publication Mergermarket. Other firms in the bidding included TSG, Permira, General Atlantic, L Catterton and Inflexion Private Equity. The report also suggested the company could pursue an IPO in two to three years, following the minority investment.

Melis Kahya Akar, head of consumer for EMEA at General Atlantic, will take a seat on the board, while the fresh capital will go towards growth and international expansion, particularly in the US.

Company
Founded in 2012, Gymshark sells gym clothing and is headquartered in Solihull. It most recently reported revenues of £250m. Prior to that, Gymshark had EBITDA of £20m and sales of £176m in the year to July 2019, according to the latest available public filing.

People
General Atlantic – Melis Kahya Akar (head of consumer for EMEA).

Advisers
Company – PwC (corporate finance); Gateley (legal).
Equity – RBC Capital Markets (corporate finance); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• General Atlantic