Xponential Fitness recognised for franchise ‘deal of the year’ with acquisitions of Rumble and BFT

Xponential Fitness, Inc., the world’s largest franchisor of boutique fitness brands, has been announced as the winner in the 2022 Franchise Times Dealmakers Awards, the 10th annual project recognising the boldest players driving mergers and acquisitions in franchising - securing the award for its acquisitions of Rumble and BFT (Body Fit Training).

The company was also recognised for going public on the New York Stock Exchange on 23rd July last year.

Welcoming the recognition, Xponential Fitness Chief Executive, Anthony Geisler stated “we are honoured to be recognised for our accomplishments by one of the most reputable franchising publications in the industry, particularly in our first year as a public company.

“2021 was a monumental year for us, and this award speaks to our team’s hard work successfully negotiating and completing our various transactions.”

Xponential Fitness acquired Rumble, a boutique boxing fitness concept, in March last year, marking the ninth brand in its diverse portfolio of franchised fitness concepts.

Rumble delivers 45-minute, 10-round, full-body strength and conditioning workouts crafted around specially designed water-filled, teardrop-style boxing bags.

Upon completion of the acquisition and consistent with the sales process of Xponential Fitness’ other brands, a seasoned sales team began immediately franchising the concept.

To date, Rumble has signed over 200 franchise agreements in the U.S. as well as Master Franchise Agreements in Australia and New Zealand, which provide the Master Franchisee the opportunity to license over 100 Rumble studios over the next 5 years.

This was followed in October by the acquisition of BFT, the Australia headquartered functional and strength-based training fitness franchisor, bringing the company’s total portfolio to 10 brands.

BFT offers community-based 50-minute functional, high-energy strength, cardio, and conditioning-based classes across 13 workout programs. Upon completion of the acquisition, Xponential Fitness entered into a Master Franchise Agreement with BFT’s sellers, under which the sellers became Xponential Master Franchisees and are leading BFT’s global expansion.

In between the completion of these two acquisitions, Xponential Fitness debuted on the NYSE with the pricing of its US$120 million initial public offering. Xponential Fitness’ IPO positions the Company to continue to execute its mission to make boutique fitness accessible to all for many years to come. The stock is up over 95% since IPO as of 25th April 2022.

Beyond the two acquisitions in 2021 and the Company’s IPO, Xponential awarded 846 new franchise territories and opened 282 new locations across its brands, including international debuts in Spain and the Dominican Republic.

Across its brands, which also include Club Pilates, Pure Barre, CycleBar, StretchLab, YogaSix, Row House, AKT, and STRIDE, the Company now has over 2,100 studios open worldwide.

To capitalise on this momentum, the company recently launched XPASS across the USA. XPASS is a new platform that allows users to book classes across all of Xponential’s brands with just one subscription. The pass gives fitness enthusiasts access to thousands of classes across multiple fitness modalities, ranging from mind-body balance to endurance, fitness, and strength.

Further enhancing this accessibility to multiple modalities, in April 2022, Xponential Fitness launched its new digital platform Xponential+ (XPLUS), providing live and on-demand access to the same sought-after workouts offered in thousands of studio locations around the globe.

In addition, Xponential Fitness also recently announced its collaboration with lifestyle-inspired athletic apparel company lululemon to create original fitness programming for the MIRROR, the retailer’s smart home gym offering that boasts a robust workout library of over 10,000 on-demand classes.

Winners of the Franchise Times Dealmakers Awards were selected by a panel of judges, all experts in mergers and acquisitions, franchising and finance along with staff members from finalist nominations solicited by Franchise Times.

Criteria included complexity and strategic significance of the deals, impact of the deals on company performance, and demonstrated success in driving performance after closing.

Images (from top): BFT, Rumble and Club Pilates.