Nuffield Health will today (14 June) announce that it has secured 35 sites from Virgin Active, as the health charity moves to significantly expand its national network of health clubs and hospitals.

The deal, believed to be worth around £80m, will make Nuffield Health the UK’s second largest health club operator, with approximately 112 sites. The transaction is expected to complete over the summer, when the clubs, their members and staff will transfer to
Nuffield Health. Health Club Management understands that talks have been in progress for several months on the sale, which sees Nuffield Health add to the nine Virgin Active sites it acquired in 2014.

Aided by £330m of debt facilities it secured in October 2014, Nuffield has been gradually expanding its portfolio in recent times and last year purchased two prime health clubs on the doorstep of the City of London. New Nuffield Health CEO Steve Gray has set about merging the charity’s wellbeing and hospital divisions to deliver a fully-integrated healthcare strategy, and the latest acquisition will significantly bolster this ambition.

“This acquisition is a great move forward and allows us to increase the pace of delivery of our strategy and our charitable purpose, to help people achieve, maintain and recover to the level of health and wellbeing they aspire to," said Gray.

"This acquisition will increase our reach in key sought-after locations and allow both members and non-members access to broader health and wellbeing services as well as proximity to Nuffield Health hospitals."

From a Virgin Active perspective, the sale marks a continuation of its repositioning strategy to focus on premium clubs in metropolitan areas. Since being acquired by new owners Brait in April 2015, the chain has set its sights on growth in the Asia Pacific region and has begun reorganising its 61 remaining UK facilities into three core proposition pillars: high-end Collection clubs, big family clubs and racquets clubs. Part of the proceeds from today's sale will be used to increase investment in Virgin Active's ongoing UK portfolio upgrade programme, as well as to aid the launch of a new £6.5m Collection club in Mansion House later this year.

Reflecting on the deal, Virgin Active CEO Paul Woolf said: "We will have a far more focused UK business with particular strength in London, the South East and bigger towns and cities. It will also help accelerate investment into our UK estate, particularly as we continue to grow our UK Collection portfolio of clubs.

“Both the members of the clubs being sold, and the associated club teams, will be transferred to Nuffield Health, and this was a very important consideration for us."

The acquisition of 35 new gyms will increase Nuffield Health’s footprint throughout the UK, taking the company’s overall portfolio to 112 consumer gyms, 212 corporate fitness and wellbeing sites, plus 31 hospitals.