The deal

The team raised development capital investment for The Training Room. Our Corporate Finance team raised £18million investment to support The Training Room, a leading provider of personal trainer training courses.

Reading based Corporate Finance adviser, the team, initiated and led the £18million fund raising in a £30million transaction, to support the future growth of The Training Room (TTR), one of the UK’s leading providers of vocational training and accreditation for gym instructors and personal trainers. LDC provided the investment alongside founder and CEO Jonathan Davies, who will retain a significant shareholding. Established in 2006 and headquartered in Poole, Dorset, TTR operates fitness industry recognised training programmes from 16 training academies that are strategically located in key cities across the UK. The business has more than 100 employees and trained nearly 3,000 people over the last year.

TTR provides the very highest qualified personal trainers to the UK’s leading corporate gyms, including gym-operator branded courses for key customers including Fitness First. The business has a unique service offering that focuses on web-led sales and marketing, and almost all of TTR’s students secure a job following completion of a standard six week course.

TTR has experienced significant growth in recent years as a result of strengthening relationships with national gym chains and its specific focus on web-led sales. The business is now well-positioned for future growth, with annual turnover of nearly £9million and EBITDA of circa £3million.

The transaction will provide the capital required to accelerate the continuing growth of the business, by introducing new training areas and disciplines into TTR’s product offering and expansion into international markets.

The deal was transacted by the team led by Partner, Clive Hatchard, with support from Michael Holgate. LDC’s investment was led by Alastair Weinel with support from Alex Snodgrass and Matt Kenny.

“The team’s help in securing the investment for TTR in its next stage of its development was invaluable. They provided real hands on advice throughout the process and really understood the business to ensure they brought in the right partner for both me and the business. Fund raising can be a long, challenging process and it was great to have the team alongside us to anticipate and resolve issues as well as ensure we had some fun along the way.” Jonathan Davies, CEO, The Training Room

“Clive and the team were great to work with on this deal. They supported Jonathan and his team throughout the deal process with their usual ‘hands-on’ practical, commercial approach and a very high level of partner involvement. From an LDC perspective it was a pleasure to have a sell side adviser who solved problems so pro-actively and we look forward toworking together again in the future.” Alastair Weinel, LDC