The Growth Fund on verge of $750m payday at Fitness Passport

The Growth Fund started in 2015 after Archer Growth deal makers Craig Cartner, Scott Greck and Timothy Spencer struck out on their own. One of EQT’s senior deal makers in Australia, Frank Heckes, previously worked at Archer Capital.

Shifting steel

The Growth Fund’s looming exit is already inducing envy among rival firms. Fitness Passport is The Growth Fund’s crown jewel, and is expected to fatten up its founders’ bank accounts. They hit a home-run – on their own exit, at least – when they sold Laser Clinics to KKR in 2017. That alone, made enough money to liberate the PE firm’s founders from the rat-race of having to raise a new fund. 

As this column has flagged, The Growth Fund has sell-side advisers on the tools for several other investments, as its founders and limited partners prepare to ride into the sunset with their respective bags of money.

Miles Advisory is shopping $30 million-a-year replacement vehicle rental business CompassCorp; Grant Samuel is seeking buyers for car share business GoGet; and Allier Capital is scanning bidders for Quantum Radiology.

It is understood Peter Brownie’s Stanton Road Partners is tending to The Growth Fund on the Fitness Passport transaction.

Should EQT Partners sign a deal to buy Fitness Passport as expected, it would be adding the asset to a rapidly expanding Australian portfolio. It already owns ex-Lendlease retirement living business Levande, and IT services firm Nexon. Last year, it splashed out $1.4 billion to acquire VetPartners. And it’s tag-teaming with TA Associates to bid for Perpetual’s wealth and trustee units.

Fitness Passport, led by chief executive Fiona Rose since 2019, has sat in The Growth Fund’s portfolio since 2016 when it acquired a majority stake for about $50 million from the founding family. At the time, Wilsons was on the sell-side.

One of its biggest clients is Quadrant Private Equity’s Fitness & Lifestyle Group, which has fielded interest from US private equity investor L Catterton in recent weeks.