Vivagym Owner Leads $685m Race For Fitness Park, Report Says

Two years after buying Spain’s VivaGym, an American PE firm is said to be eyeing France’s largest low-price gym chain, which would push its network toward 900 clubs

Providence Equity Partners, the Rhode Island firm that owns Spain’s VivaGym, has put forth a bid of about €600 million ($685 million) for Fitness Park’s French business and is among the frontrunners to acquire the low-price gym operator, according to Spanish business daily Expansión.

The sale, reportedly coordinated by JPMorgan, is well advanced, with four potential buyers left in contention — Providence among them, alongside a French family office — and could be resolved before year-end, Expansión reported, citing market sources. 

Fitness Park operates more than 400 clubs across France, the French overseas territories and internationally, according to its website. The reported approach comes just over a year after Carlyle, a global investment firm, had extended Fitness Park a €280 million financing package to fund its own acquisitions in France and abroad. 

Fitness Park didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Athletech News. Providence Equity declined to comment.

Should the transaction move ahead, it could see the folding of VivaGym and Fitness Park into a single holding company while keeping both brands, Expansión reported. 

Providence acquired VivaGym in 2024, when the Iberian operator had just over 100 clubs and 315,000 members and ambitions to expand into Italy, Germany and the U.K. 

“In our view, VivaGym is a classic Providence investment,” managing director Robert Sudo said at the time. This year, VivaGym acquired budget-friendly Synergym, a deal that pushed its footprint past 450 clubs.

The bid lands amid a busy stretch for European fitness dealmaking. Basic-Fit acquired German operator Wellyou this year, building on its 2025 move when it acquired Germany’s Clever Fit. David Lloyd confirmed its intentions to secure premium chain Aspria and private-equity firm L Catterton led a consortium that bought Hamburg-founded fitness-racing brand Hyrox in a deal reportedly valued near $700 million. Meanwhile, Anytime Fitness’s French franchisee absorbed 10 Interval Sport clubs and Amsterdam-based Urban Gym Group entered Ireland with the purchase of Dublin’s Iconic Health Clubs.

“Private equity is definitely back in the game,” Michael Moritz, CEO of advisory firm Carlsquare, told Athletech News in August, predicting stronger consolidation as buyers chase regional density and the operating efficiency that scale affords in a business he called an “efficiency game.”

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