UK Health Club Chain Virgin Active Snaps Up Nutrition Firm, Secures Funding

U.K. health chain Virgin Active is expanding operations with £88.4 million (roughly $117 million) in funding, the acquisition of a nutrition firm and a new CEO who will oversee the larger enterprise. 

The company acquired The Real Foods Group for undisclosed terms concurrently with raising £88.4 million in a funding round led by South African billionaire Christo Wiese, Bloomberg reported. Virgin Active, part-owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and private-equity firm Brait SE, is developing a combined fitness and nutrition company.

Virgin Active acquired the nutrition assets of The Real Foods Group for £28.6 million,  according to a press release on Friday (March 4).

Dean Kowarski, founder of The Real Foods Group headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, will serve as the CEO of the expanded Virgin Active enterprise, He replaces ​​Matthew Bucknall, retiring 25 years after co-founding the business. Bucknall will remain active as a special adviser to the Board and as a Non-Executive Director of Virgin Active Italy.

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Kowarski started the Real Foods Group in 2013 and acquired healthy quick service restaurant group Kauai in 2015. Virgin Active Holdings Limited operates as a holding company and through its subsidiaries, provides gym equipment, pools, saunas, steam rooms, health and beauty treatments, exercise classes, and cafe-bars, according to its website.

Real Foods owns 204 sites with brands like Kauai and many are in gyms owned by Virgin Active, which has over 230 clubs around the world and an estimated 1 million members.

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“This is an incredibly exciting moment for Virgin Active and The Real Foods Group,” Dean Kowarski said. “Both brands have been pioneers in their respective wellness fields, building local and international reputations for excellence.” 

Kowarski added that combining the skills of both firms will offer members access to complete fitness and nutrition solutions to meet their goals.

Virgin Active and Real Foods will operate under a single leadership group and will strive to develop a “broader wellbeing offering” with new opportunities and commercial efficiencies. The group wants to “align fitness and nutrition around a single goal and provide shared data and personalised nutrition in concert with curated, accessible exercise programs.”