30. October 2020

ARQIS has advised on the merger of the fitness studio chain Ai Fitness with the Jumpers Group, a portfolio company of NORD Holding. The client of ARQIS was Ai Fitness founder and seller Marius Neugebauer, who is taking a significant stake in the new group and is moving to the advisory board.

The two entities together form a new platform, the ‘BestFit Group’, which will focus on the growing premium discount fitness sector in Germany. The new group is a leading provider with well over 210,000 members, 64 studios and a strong presence in southern and western Germany. A comprehensive national market position is to be achieved through further acquisitions.

Based on a recommendation the client had initially tested the ARQIS team around the Düsseldorf partner Dr. Jörn-Christian Schulze on an add-on transaction and subsequently entrusted the team with this sales process. At the beginning, the ARQIS deal team also included the former of counsel Dr. Thomas Görgemanns, who took over the management of a family office in April.

On behalf of the Ai Fitness shareholders, the transaction was also accompanied by the management consultancy edelhelfer.

Advisors to Marius Neugebauer
ARQIS Rechtsanwälte (Dusseldorf): Dr. Jörn-Christian Schulze (Lead Partner, Corporate/M&A); Counsel: Saskia Kirschbaum, Dr. Stephanie Lenze (both Labour Law); Associates: Kamil Flak, Dr. Nima Hanifi-Atashgah (both Corporate/M&A), Martin Weingärtner (Labour Law), Jennifer Huschauer (Real Estate)

Baker Tilly (Düsseldorf): Christian Wegener, Dr. Christiane Krüger (both Tax)