Medicover buys Poland's Fitness World clubs

Polish medical insurance outfit, Medicover, Polish medical insurance company has purchased Fitness World out of administration. Fitness World has 15 clubs in Poland which were placed in bankruptcy by previous owner, Pure Gym, on 17 November.

Medicover also owns OK Systems, a fitness aggregator in the Polish market, where aggregators hold sway over large parts of the sector.

OK Systems is currently second in the Polish aggregator market in terms of market share to Benefits Systems, with health insurance specialist, PZU, rumoured to be planning to enter the market in early 2021.

This will be the first time Medicare has directly invested in a facility operator – the company had issued a statement indicating its intention to get into the health and fitness market in 2019.

The purchase of Fitness World by Pure Gym was announced on 12 December 2019, with the £350m deal being finalised early in 2020 before the pandemic hit Europe.

At the time, Steen Albrechtslund, CEO of Fitness World, said: “PureGym's decision to invest in Fitness World is testament to the business we have built, which is the overwhelming market leader in Denmark and a growing player in Switzerland and Poland. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2020 subject to standard completion conditions."

Fitness World also continues to trade as part of the Pure Gym group in Denmark and Switzerland, with Cobbold previously saying these operations helped the company significantly during lockdown by contributing incomes at a time when the UK clubs were closed.

The Polish portfolio was originally brought into the Fitness World chain in 2015 with backing from FSM Capital, when the Danish operator bought Polish gym chain Condizione.