Virgin Active

Virgin Active Limited

Type	Joint venture
Industry	Health club, gym
Founded	Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom (1998 (1998))
Founder	Richard Branson
Headquarters	London, England
Number of locations	239 total 60 (UK) 121 (South Africa) 36 (Italy) 11 (Spain) 4 (Portugal) 6 (Australia) 1 (Singapore) 5 (Thailand) 2 (Namibia) 1 (Botswana)
Area served	South Africa, Namibia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, UK, Singapore, Thailand
Owner	Brait SE (80%) Virgin Group (20%)
Website	www.virginactive.com

Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in South Africa, Namibia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

History

The gym company launched in 1999^[1] in Preston, Lancashire^[2] as part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, initially headquartered in Milton Keynes. In 2013 headquarters were moved to the Barbican in London leaving a small call centre in Milton Keynes.

In South Africa the company bought the assets of the 'Health and Racquet Club' chain after the latter's parent company, Leisurenet, had been placed in liquidation in October 2000^[3] for 319.6 million South African Rand (approximately £24.5m as at November 2011).^[4] The South African company also runs Virgin Life Care.

In 2002, by which point the company had 350,000 members, Branson sold 55 percent of the company to Bridgepoint Capital for £40 million.^[2] In 2005, Branson bought out Bridgepoint's stake in the business for £134.5 million.^[5]

It subsequently expanded its operations in 2004 to Italy.^[6] By 2005 the company had 25 clubs in the UK, 77 clubs in South Africa and 12 clubs in Continental Europe.^[5] It opened its first Australian club in Sydney in late 2008,^[7] with further clubs launch in Singapore and Thailand in 2015.

On 1 November 2006 it took over the UK-based operation of the more prestigious Holmes Place chain, thus increasing its UK chain of clubs from 24 to 72 overnight.^[8] On 26 April 2011 it announced the takeover of UK gym operator Esporta's 55 clubs increasing the UK business to 124 clubs.^[9]

The current Group CEO is Paul Woolf, who succeeded founder Matthew Bucknall in late 2013. In 2014 Virgin Active launched a new low-cost gym called Virgin Active RED in South Africa. The RED gyms focuses on first timers who may be intimidated by training by strategically placing exercise equipment in different stages around the gym and further having touch screen computers and other technologies placed in these predefined area's teaching the user how to do the exercise correctly.

On 16 April 2015, it was reported that Virgin Group and their private equity backers had sold 80% of Virgin Active to the South African investment firm Brait, owned by the billionaire Christo Wiese. The sale price was £682 million for an 80% stake, valuing the business at £1.3 billion, including debt, and the transaction was completed in July 2015. The company will continue to operate under the Virgin Active brand.^[10]

Controversy

In December 2015, the South African Competition Tribunal announced that it is investigating Virgin Active's South African operations and the Discovery Group for contravening the Competition Act. The investigation is ongoing. ^[11]

Accidents and Deaths

In December 2011 Virgin's flag ship club in High Street Kensington was accused of covering up the death of model and city worker Elsa Carneau, who drowned in the swimming pool at the west London club. A fire crew and paramedics tried to revive the Imperial College graduate for almost an hour before she was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Westminster coroner’s court heard that staff at the club administered CPR incorrectly and falsified paperwork relating to CCTV checks to pretend that they had been monitoring the pool in a “distasteful” attempt to cover their tracks. Firemen also described how a man, who said he was a member of staff, had stood by filming efforts to resuscitate Carneau on his mobile telephone. Pierre Carneau, the victims father criticised Virgin active for not apologising for the accident. He stated "It was an accident waiting to happen. If things had been done properly, I think there’s a chance our daughter may still be alive.” Virgin Active admitted health and safety breaches and was fined £100,000 at Southwark Crown Court in December last year. An investigation found “serious shortcomings in the management of risks connected with swimming activity at the club” going back to 2009. ^{[12][13][14][15]}

References

External links

• Virgin Active Global Portal
  • Virgin Active Australia
  • Virgin Active Italy
  • Virgin Active Portugal
  • Virgin Active Singapore
  • Virgin Active South Africa
  • Virgin Active Spain
  • Virgin Active UK