CAPE TOWN: The billionaire’s Christo Wiese Company RAIT will pay £682m ($1bn) to acquire an 80% stake in British health club chain Virgin Active.
The deal values the fitness company at £1.3bn and British entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Group will retain a 20% stake, Brait said in a statement on Thursday. London-based private equity firm CVC Capital Partners will sell its stake in the gym chain as part of the deal.
“Virgin Active is a business that we have tracked for many years,” Brait South Africa chief executive officer John Gnodde said in a separate statement. “Virgin Active’s successful track record, high cash generation and exciting growth prospects in both emerging and developed markets make this an attractive opportunity for Brait and its shareholders.”
Brait has been seeking targets for a R26.4bn ($2.2bn) windfall it received from the 2014 sale of its stake in African retailer Pepkor Holdings as investors pressured the company to spend the cash. Gnodde said in November the company planned to make as many as three acquisitions in the food and consumer-goods market in South Africa and Europe.
Brait shares fell as much as 2% and declined 0.6% to R86.20 as of 10.01am GMT, valuing the company at R44.4bn.
