Wahlberg-Backed F45 Is Said to Be in Crescent Merger Talks

(Bloomberg) -- F45 Training, a provider of group fitness classes backed by Mark Wahlberg, is in talks to go public by merging with blank-check company Crescent Acquisition Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

A deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. The company is expected to be valued at less than $1 billion, some of the people said.

Crescent would buy a significant minority stake in the company as part of the deal, the people added. No plans are final and the talks could still fall apart, they said.

A representative for F45 couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Crescent’s shares rose as much as 29% to $13.11 on the news.

Crescent spokesman Bill Mendel said in an emailed statement that “Crescent’s longstanding corporate policy is to refrain from comment on any transaction that may or may not be under consideration.”

The fast-growing company, which started in Sydney but is now based in Los Angeles, is led by Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Adam Gilchrist. Another co-founder, Rob Deutsch, recently left the company, according to one of the people.

The company had paused IPO plans for this year after the pandemic forced it to shut locations, Bloomberg News reported in April.

Some traditional gyms couldn’t weather the pandemic’s forced closures and lost revenue. Gold’s Gym International Inc. filed for bankruptcy in May, followed by 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Inc. earlier this month.

Celebrity customers

F45, whose name is a mash-up of “functional training” and the 45-minute duration of its classes, had confidentially filed paperwork to go public, Bloomberg News reported in January.

F45 classes draw on roughly 4,000 different exercises, in part to keep workouts fresh. The company defines pulling, pushing, squatting, lifting, jumping, kicking, rowing and biking, among other motions, as functional training.

Los Angeles-based Crescent, led by Robert Beyer and Todd Purdy, raised $250 million in an IPO in March 2019. The company has a mandate to pursue a merger with a target in “any business, sector or geography,” it said at the time. It’s backed by Crescent Capital, a private lender and asset manager with over $28 billion under management.

Actor Wahlberg bought a minority stake last year in a deal valuing F45 at about $450 million. Before the pandemic, Wahlberg regularly posted from F45 on social media and has introduced it to celebrities including Mario Lopez, as well as basketball stars Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler, former National Football League player Calvin Johnson and the National Hockey League’s Max Domi.

Classes are offered in at least 40 countries, including in the U.S. at colleges such as Stanford University and the University of Southern California. The sessions also feature wireless heart rate monitors, which the company calls LionHeart, that are linked to in-studio television displays.

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