Virgin Active enters Germany with €135M Holmes Place deal
What's the deal? Virgin ActiveDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has signed an unconditional agreement to acquire Holmes Place GermanyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for €135 million in cash, marking its entry into Europe's largest fitness market. The target runs 13 premium wellness clubs across Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, Essen, and Lübeck. The seller is a joint venture between Holmes Place Europe and funds controlled by AUCTUS Capital Partners AGDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which have jointly owned the business since 2016.
Why now? The deal is funded from existing cash following Virgin Active's October 2026 rights issue to shareholders, raised to support international growth. Completion and transfer of ownership are set for mid-December 2026, with no outstanding conditions.
What's the endgame? Virgin Active describes the acquisition as part of its global expansion in premium wellness, targeting consumers who treat health as a long-term investment. Buying an established, profitable operator gives it immediate scale "significantly below the cost of building an equivalent estate," avoiding the risk and time of a ground-up build. On a pro forma basis, Holmes Place Germany will contribute about 14% of Virgin Active's 2026 EBITDA.
The DACH push: Germany extends a wider regional expansion. The group recently acquired its first club in Lugano, Switzerland, and plans to open in Vienna, Austria, in early 2027, building a footprint across the DACH region.
What could go wrong? Virgin Active enters a market where established chains are already consolidating. Basic-FitDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s acquisition of clever fit has made it a major force in Germany and the wider region, and 27 fitness-operator M&A deals were recorded across Europe in 2025.
The signal: Germany is a substantial prize — 12.4 million fitness-club members in 2025, with the premium segment forecast to grow 9.3% to 2028, per the European Health & Fitness Report 2026. The market remains fragmented and underpenetrated, and Virgin Active is betting that buying scale beats building it as European operators race to consolidate.
Read more: searchandnews.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
