AusLeisure

Key shareholders Mark Wahlberg and Adam Gilchrist are reported to be looking to take troubled fitness franchise F45 private according to media reports.

The Australian Financial Review and Yahoo Finance have reported that Hollywood star Wahlberg and F45 co-founder Gilchrist have launched an offer at $US4 a share, valuing the Sydney-founder group at $US385 million - considerably less than its $US16 a share listing on the New York Stock Exchange in July last year.

F45 confirmed this week that it had received an unsolicited proposal from its largest shareholder and lender, Kennedy Lewis Investment Management (KLIM), to acquire all the shares not already owned by KLIM “or other stockholders participating in the proposed transaction”.

F45 said its board “will evaluate KLIM’s proposal with its advisers and pursue the course of action it determines to be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders”.

F45 shares plunged in July following an update that revealed its ambitious global expansion plans would not be realised.

With its share price falling as low as $US1.35 after the downgrade, Gilchrist resigned as Chief Executive.

The company halved its staff as it slashed sales and earnings forecasts and warned it might not stay within its debt covenants.

F45 later reported that more than 300 US franchise sales had been cancelled due to the collapse of external financing in July - and another 300 were in doubt.

Wahlberg, who helped recruit other celebrities to help market the fitness chain, received 2.74 million share rights which vested with the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in July last year.

His shares had a valuation of just under $US44 million.

The actor sold more than $US10 million worth of stock in a series of trades but stopped in April with 1.66 million shares remaining in his account.

Wahlberg was part of a group that invested $US100 million in F45 in 2019.

Image: Mark Wahlberg (left) and Adam Gilchrist at the New York Stock Exchange last year. Credit: Source: NYSE.

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