August, 2011
GLP advises CVC on its acquisition of a 51% stake in Virgin Active

Global Leisure Partners ("GLP") is delighted to announce that it advised funds advised by CVC Capital Partners ("CVC") in acquiring a controlling stake in Virgin Active, a leading international health club operator. The partnership between CVC and Virgin will support Virgin Active's growth in both existing and new geographies.
 
Virgin Active is one of the world's leading health club operators with 254 clubs and 1.1 million members across the U.K., South Africa, Italy, Iberia and Australia. Founded in 1999, Virgin Active has reported 11 years of consecutive double digit revenue and profit growth, demonstrating the strength of its business model and strategy.

Mark Harms, CEO and Chairman of GLP, commented:

"Supporting CVC with its acquisition of a stake in Virgin Active is a further example of what GLP does best – combining its deep industry knowledge, operating expertise and understanding of the requirements of private equity investors to create proprietary transactions that transform industries. This transaction, the largest in the fitness & healthy living industry globally in several years, further reinforces GLP’s market leadership position in the sector. I have spent a significant amount of time focusing on the fitness & healthy living industry over the last twenty years and believe that this transaction heralds the beginning of the next phase of global industry consolidation."

Mervyn Metcalf, Managing Director of GLP, commented:

"Once again, we are very pleased to be at the forefront of leisure transactions in the UK. This is an important transaction that demonstrates the benefits of private equity working in partnership with corporates to create real value.  We have every confidence that Virgin Active will continue to grow and further strengthen its position as a leading leisure brand globally, and look forward to helping them achieve this objective."

This is GLP’s seventh deal of the year with total transaction values in excess of $3bn across our core leisure and consumer sectors, further demonstrating GLP's ability to combine real sector insight and transaction capability to deliver results to our clients.

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