Vam Investments challenges big gym chains, Gym Nation Italia is born

Vam Investments, an Italian private equity operator and partner of leading Italian and international family offices, launches Gym Nation Italia, a new consolidation initiative in the fitness club sector.

The project kicks off with the acquisition of the first 21 gyms of the Orange and Egosistema groups, (companies with 25 million turnover and 8-9 million Ebitda) and aims to aggregate the still very fragmented gym and fitness club sector in Italy. The group, entirely Italian, will launch the challenge in a growing market, also dominated by international brands such as Virgin Active. It will aim for a turnover of around one hundred million and around 100 gyms. In the shareholding structure, Vam Investments will have a large majority, while the entrepreneurs will reinvest in the group.

With 10 gyms and over 45,000 members, Orange is a reference club in Turin. Egosistema, with 11 fitness centres and 26,000 members in major Italian cities such as Rome, Milan and Bologna, offers a diversified approach with a proposal that ranges from the mid-market with the Palestre Italiane brand gyms to the premium segment, thanks to the luxury brand Prime. The Italian fitness market, which has more than 5 million monthly customers and an annual turnover of 3.1 billion, is characterised by high fragmentation: more than 5,000 operators, mainly individual gyms or small local chains.

Gym Nation Italia wants to play a significant role in this market by exploiting economies of scale, improving operational efficiency, and consolidating its geographical presence in the country through strategic acquisitions and new openings. A team of experts has been set up to lead the project, headed by Luca Sommaruga, former sales and finance manager for Europe at Virgin Active. Working alongside him will be Francesco Iezzoni, CEO of Egosistema, who will take on the role of Group Coo of Gym Nation Italia, Cesare Fornasero, CEO of Orange, as head of business development, Ezio Donato, current commercial director of Virgin Active, who will take on the role of Cco, and Vittorio Scotti, current head of digital at Virgin Active, who will take on the role of Cto.

"With Gym Nation Italia we intend to replicate the success of our previous consolidation experiences, this time in the fitness sector, where we see exceptional growth potential and opportunities to enhance expertise in the market," explains Marco Piana, CEO of Vam Investments. "Thanks to the leadership of Luca Sommaruga, we are ready to transform Gym Nation Italia into a network of state-of-the-art fitness clubs".