Portobello prepares a 70 million broadcast for its gyms, the Sidecu group

Sidecu, the commercial brand of the gymnasium business of the Portobello fund, plans to launch a bond issuance worth 70 million euros, as it has learned the Economist. This operation aims to finance the national and international expansion of the group, one of its strategic markets in which it landed through the opening of its first center in Lisbon in 2015.

Specifically, the company is immersed in the Duma Project, for which it wants to replicate the same business model as in Spain by detecting the wide growth possibilities of the sector in Portugal: low supply, old infrastructure and very fragmented business. To do this, since last year he works on the issuance of this bond that he has made under new financing senior secured with a maximum amount of 70 million euros, for a maximum term of five years and with prohibition of early amortization the first two years.

More openings

According to the company's strategic plan, its objective in Portugal was to open 17 sports centers in the last year. Unlike other competitors, the group plans to develop centers that, in addition to gyms as such, offer other services such as outdoor facilities, water areas and SPA, among others. Thus, his idea is to convert these facilities into social infrastructure, not just gyms.

This new road map was defined by Portobello Capital when it entered the shareholding of the Supera gyms at the end of 2017, in an operation valued at around 150 million euros. The previous owner – the investor Fernando Chinchurreta – was one of the great acquaintances in the private capital sector and, in turn, former founder of Portobello – decided to sell the group, for which he sent Greenhill that spring. This operation opened the doors to a wave of purchases in the sector.