Nigeria: CardinalStone exits gym chain to Verod
Nigeria: CardinalStone exits gym chain to Verod
The CardinalStone Capital Advisers Growth Fund has sold its stake in i-Fitness to Verod Capital.
Africa Private Equity News’ Connect messaging service is now free. Directly message other private equity professionals in our community.
Download the free Africa Private Equity News app: Android | iOS (or search for it in the app store)
Tap on the top-right icon to log in or register a free account
Tap on bottom-right Connect icon to start chatting
CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), a West Africa focused private equity firm, has announced that its CardinalStone Capital Advisers Growth Fund (CCAGF) has sold its stake in i-Fitness, to Verod Capital.
Established in 2015, i-Fitness is a health and wellness brand that operates a chain of low-cost, big-box gyms across Nigeria.
CCA partnered with Foluso Ogunwale, the founder of i-Fitness, in 2019, at which point the business was serving under 3,000 subscribers, with approximately 50 employees across five locations; all along the Lekki axis of Lagos, Nigeria. Today, the business serves over 26,000 active subscribers, and has over 500 employees across 21 locations in four cities in Nigeria.
Foluso Ogunwale, CEO of i-Fitness, said: “With CCA, we did not only build a business that is now leading the fitness industry in West Africa, we built a friendship, stayed laser-focused on achieving set objectives and worked together through good and hard times. Ten weeks into our partnership, we shut down operations for six months due to Covid-19. We lost a significant amount of money but still kept our growth mindset intact. Promoting fitness and having the opportunity to touch many thousands of lives gives us a true sense of fulfilment.”
On the exit, Yomi Jemibewon, partner at CCA commented, “This has been an extremely exciting and rewarding journey for us at CCA. From believing in and supporting Foluso’s vision when others wouldn't; to weathering the storm of a six-month Covid-19 shut-down only three months after investing; and then exceeding our growth and impact objectives 12 months ahead of schedule. We are pleased to be exiting to a trusted financial investor that is committed to carrying on the journey we started with Foluso. This story exemplifies the role we set out to play with the CCA Growth Fund, in developing SMEs in our markets into industry leaders with transformational impact at scale.”
i-Fitness was CCAGF’s first investment and represents its first full exit.
Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited (RMB) and CardinalStone Partners Limited (CSP) acted as joint financial advisors, and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO) acted as legal counsel to the seller on the transaction.
* Subscribe to Africa Private Equity News’ monthly Dealmaker’s Log for a database of the reported investment deals, exits and fundraising closes. Click here for more information.