UK health and fitness market flexing M&A muscles in 2025

M&A activity has been on an upward trajectory in the UK health and fitness market, with dealmaking rising to a post-pandemic high in 2024 and poised to surpass that figure in 2025. This trend is being driven by the significant growth the sector is seeing across the UK, as people become more health conscious, even in the face of rising costs.

Demand for health and fitness products and services has been increasing consistently since the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have led people to value their health more highly. While the trend is most pronounced among younger generations, recent research has also revealed how greater accessibility is also attracting older age groups, as well as minorities and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

It’s not just going to the gym that is proving more popular in 2025, however, there is also increasing consumer and investor interest in the wider health, medical and wellness arena. Meanwhile, the increased prominence of emerging sports such as pickleball, padel and bouldering is leading a wave of interest in niche sports.

This is all attracting more interest in the sector from private equity and strategic investors, while there have also been increases in both inbound and outbound dealmaking, meaning that UK health and fitness firms are both attractive acquisition targets and ambitious buyers.

UK workout boom - The growth of the health and fitness market
Recent analysis of the UK’s health and fitness market shows a sector going, literally and figuratively, from strength to strength. User numbers are increasing rapidly, boosting sector income and helping to attract ever more investment into the industry.

According to the UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025 from ukactive, Sport England and 4GLOBAL, the industry is “demonstrating remarkable resilience and growth, exceeding post-pandemic expectations.”

Examining the sector’s performance in 2024, the report found that the number of gym or leisure facility members in the UK had increased 6 per cent, from 10.8 million in 2023 to approximately 11.5 million in 2025.

This helped to push the total penetration rate of the sector up 0.9 per cent to 16.9 per cent of the population, driving the sector’s total income from £5.3 billion in 2023 to nearly £5.7 billion last year, an increase of almost 9 per cent. Furthermore, while the UK’s penetration rate is among Europe’s highest, it also gives an indication of how much more room there is for the sector to continue to grow.

It is perhaps unsurprising that much of this growth is being driven by the sector’s popularity among younger age groups, with Gen Z in particular being widely noted for its focus on health and wellness. The UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025 found that 17.1 per cent of the sector’s total user base came from the 25 - 34 age group last year, the highest figure for any age group.

The surging popularity of health and fitness has been attributed to a major shift in consumer habits over recent years, something that has seemingly accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with fitness now seen as an integral part of life, rather than a hobby or obligation.

In the ukactive report, while several of the leading motivating factors for joining a gym were related to physical health (e.g. improving physical strength or fitness, improving physical appearance), some of the most commonly cited reasons were to do with wellness and mental health.

76 per cent of respondents said they joined a gym to improve mental health and wellbeing, 75 per cent wanted to improve their overall confidence and 68 per cent were looking to improve their sleep.

TSG Consumer Managing Directors Adam Hemmer and Mike Layman said that a large majority of gym users (75 per cent) now view fitness, not as a hobby or chore, but “a form of self care”, something they describe as particularly pronounced among younger age generations.

It’s not just younger people that are taking part in the fitness boom, however, with the second highest figure coming in the 65 - 74 age bracket (16.8 per cent), demonstrating the sector’s broadening appeal.

Discussing the broad appeal of the sector with PE Hub, Verlinvest Senior Principal Olivia Gautier said that customers were increasingly looking for accessible, inclusive and sociable activities that helped them to form real-world connections, regardless of their background or skill level.

According to Gautier this trend is exemplified by the emergence of simple, niche sports such as padel, pickleball and bouldering, which she describes as being simple to learn, time-efficient and having low access barriers, compared to more challenging sports such as tennis or climbing.

Another factor cited in the sector’s growth has been the evolution of technology. This ranges from simpler developments, such as tap-in technology at gyms and leisure clubs, to more sophisticated innovation such as wearables for glucose monitoring and metabolic health and apps delivering performance tracking and insights, social sharing and gamification..

However, what has potentially been the most pivotal in attracting investors to the sector has been its impressive resilience to economic challenges. Amidst the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, many consumer-facing industries (such as hospitality and retail) have struggled badly, with customer numbers falling and financial distress soaring.

Despite cutting down on expensive retail purchases, meals and drinks out and hotel stays, the health and fitness sector’s rising penetration and income indicates that consumers are still willing to pay to keep fit.

According to the authors of the UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025, the sector has continued “to show market resilience to the macroeconomic headwinds” impacting other industries, resulting in “investors recognising the long-term growth potential of the sector, driven by consumer trends towards wellness and preventative healthcare.”

M&A on the rise
Unsurprisingly, the sector’s strong performance has resulted in increasing M&A activity, particularly during 2024 and 2025. While there is yet to perhaps be a genuine boom in health and fitness dealmaking, activity has been increasing steadily, both in the UK and globally.

According to the UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025, following a lull in 2023 (which saw just four deals), the UK health and fitness sector recorded seven major M&A transactions in 2024, the highest figure since 2020.

2024 was also a year of major M&A growth in the global sector, with Houlihan Lokey saying that it had been an “exceptional year for the fitness and wellness sector”. According to an analysis of the worldwide sector by Houlihan Lokey, 2024 delivered disclosed deal value of $4.5 billion, soaring up from $0.3 billion in 2023 and the highest figure over the past five years.

Global deal volume, meanwhile, increased from 70 in 2023 to a post-pandemic high of 113 deals in 2024, a figure only outstripped in the preceding five years by 2019, which saw 157 transactions.

Private equity buyers taking an interest
Given the sector’s resilience in the face of major economic challenges, as well as the huge potential for ongoing growth, it is only natural that private equity investors have been taking an interest in health and fitness.

This is by no means a new trend, health and fitness giant David Lloyd Leisure has been backed by private equity firm TDR Capital since 2013, while health and fitness club chain The Third Space Group (which had in the past been backed by Graphite Capital) secured £88.5 million in debt finance from OakNorth and Searchlight Capital Partners in 2022 to support its ongoing growth.

However, whereas private equity investment in other sectors has levelled amid economic uncertainty and flat consumer sentiment, this has not been the case in the health and fitness industry. TSG Consumer’s Adam Hemmer and Mike Layman report a “significant increase” in M&A in the sector this year, particularly within the gym segment.

During 2024 and 2025 there have been a number of notable private equity investments in the sector. In May 2024, Inflexion took a major stake in upmarket health and fitness platform Ultimate Performance, which delivers personalised training and nutrition programmes.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Puma Growth Partners invested a further £4 million in low-price gym group NRG Gyms, backing the firm to further expand its portfolio of UK gyms following an original investment of £5 million made back in 2018.

According to ukactive, private equity dealmaking continues to underscore investor confidence in the health and fitness sector and adjacent markets. The report adds: “As health and wellbeing become increasingly prioritised by a larger segment of the population, the industry is poised for continued expansion, making it ripe for further investment opportunities.”

Emerging niches becoming investment hotspots
Gyms and leisure clubs are clearly seen as high-value, resilient investment opportunities. But, arguably, what is really making the health and fitness sector stand out over the past couple of years are the emerging niches across the market.

As mentioned earlier, the rapid growth of simple, accessible sports such as padel, has brought a wave of new customers into the health and fitness market and, predictably, investors are beginning to follow them.

Padel has been a particularly prominent success story in the industry. Earlier this year, the UK’s Lawn Tennis Association announced that it had reached a milestone of 1,000 padel courts across the nation, with player count thought to stand at more than 400,000 and growing.

According to investment bank Cavendish, this booming popularity (which spans age groups and ability levels), combined with a highly fragmented market ideally suited for consolidation, means that padel has emerged as “among the most compelling investment opportunities in UK leisure.”

One of the most high-profile niche sports deals this year occurred in November 2025, when entrepreneur Jonathan Rowland used VVV Sports (a company at which he is Executive Chairman) to acquire R3 Sport, a padel business that he founded in 2024.

The £3 million deal, expected to complete by the end of November, is claimed to create the only listed ‘pure play’ sports investment vehicle focused on the global growth of niche sports such as padel, pickleball and beach tennis.

The business’ growth model will include event ownership and management, brand acquisition, team ownership and strategic stakes and athlete and team management, among other focus areas.

According to Rowland, the deal aims to create an entity capable of helping to clear the gap in “fully professionalising and commercialising these fast-rising sports, particularly across Europe and the Middle East and key global hubs.”

Niche sports have also contributed to growing interest in the sector from third party investors, with investors clearly attracted by the opportunities to consolidate at scale and establish leading positions in what remain fairly nascent markets.

In October 2024, consumer investment company Verlinvest acquired a majority stake in UK bouldering gym operator The Climbing Hangar, with plans to invest in the brand through new site rollouts and M&A, including internationally.

The Climbing Hangar has more than 20,000 members and 11 sites across the UK (up from nine at the time of Verlinvest’s investment), with its accessible environment and democratic price points having helped to establish it as the UK’s leading bouldering gym.

Verlinvest, which also invested in US bouldering chain Boulders last year, says it plans to accelerate The Climbing Hangar’s growth “by building new sites in the UK, acquiring high-quality existing operations and deepening its brand and climbing community.”

Ben Black, Executive Director at Verlinvest, said that the firm would “actively seek M&A opportunities with other like-minded partners to build the business on an international scale.”

Elsewhere, US-focused publication PE Hub reports that there is growing private equity interest in the niche boutique fitness space, built around smaller (often women-focused) studio spaces, strength-oriented training and loyal, communal customer bases of longstanding members.

Speaking to PE Hub, Princeton Equity Group co-founder and Managing Partner James Waskovich explained that unit economics were a key value and growth driver in the boutique fitness industry.

According to Waskovich, boutique fitness concepts thrive in 3,000-5,000 sq ft spaces, as opposed to the 50,000 square foot units often occupied by large fitness facilities. As well as helping to drastically reduce rent, this smaller size is also credited with helping to boost the effectiveness of classes and, ultimately, customer retention and acquisition.

As small fitness studios offering workouts such as yoga, pilates and strength training flourish across the UK, it is easy to see such a fragmented market becoming a fertile ground for private equity dealmaking, particularly if mid-sized consolidators begin to emerge.

Inbound and outbound activity
A feature of UK M&A over recent years has been the influx of overseas buyers (particularly from the US) drawn in by attractive valuations and industry-leading businesses. While the health and fitness sector hasn’t quite seen the raft of overseas investment that industries such as insurance have, inbound investment remains a key trend in the sector.

In 2024, Dutch operator Urban Gym Group acquired the holding company of London gym chain GymBox, announcing plans to make Gymbox its banner brand outside the Netherlands and to open a flagship branch in Finsbury Park.

Elsewhere, Australian gym franchise Jetts Fitness has made the UK one its core international growth markets. The business had 18 UK clubs as of last year, and said that it had a pipeline of further openings lined up for 2025.

As well as inbound investment, however, UK health and fitness operators are also using M&A to grow internationally, with private equity playing a key role in this outbound dealmaking trend.

Verlinvest-backed The Climbing Hangar has already announced its intention to target international growth, while gym giant PureGym, which is backed by US private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, added 70 US sites last year through its acquisition of Blink Fitness.

UK Invest writes that this transaction, along with deals such as David Lloyd’s acquisitions in Germany and Spain, highlight the belief UK fitness firms have in their “brand equity and operational expertise” and demonstrate “the significant potential for international franchising opportunities for UK-based fitness brands.”

While the UK health and fitness market may not have seen the kind of intense consolidation that has gripped other fragmented sectors in recent years, it appears to have a number of fundamentals in place that are conducive to dealmaking.

Gyms and fitness and leisure clubs are seeing strong customer and income growth, fuelled by changing habits and attitudes towards exercise, and there is plenty of scope for this to accelerate further over coming years.

Meanwhile, niche sports are increasing the appeal and accessibility of the sector, and offering investors the chance to get in on the ground floor of an emerging market that could have enormous growth potential.

This is all being underpinned by a fairly remarkable resilience in the face of economic adversity that has plunged other consumer-facing sectors into considerable distress. This strength, combined with the possibilities for further growth and consolidation, is attracting investment into the market (not least from private equity), potentially paving the way for a genuine M&A boom in the health and fitness sector.

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