Hall & Wilcox advises Bravo Fit Holdings to enable expansion of Planet Fitness franchise into Australia

Hall & Wilcox has assisted an Australian company, Bravo Fit Holdings Pty Ltd (Bravo), to secure an Area Development Agreement from Planet Fitness, Inc, which will facilitate Planet Fitness’ international expansion into Australia.

Bravo is a joint venture comprised of US Planet Fitness franchisees, Bravo Fit, LLC and PF Growth Partners, LLC and Australian fitness operator, Dallas Rosekelly’s Galactic Fitness Pty Ltd.

Hall & Wilcox advised on the establishment of the Bravo joint venture. The firm also assisted Bravo to achieve all the operational and capitalisation-related key performance indicators required to bring the Planet Fitness franchise to Australia.

Under the Area Development Agreement, Bravo Fit will develop and operate a minimum of 35 Planet Fitness centres in Australia in the first few years, with two centres now open in Gosford and Tuggerah, and a location in Casula expected to open in 2020.

Planet Fitness, Inc currently has more than 14.1 million members and over 1800 clubs spanning all 50 US states, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Mexico. Planet Fitness’ expansion into the Australian market is a significant milestone for the franchise.

The Hall & Wilcox team was led by Partner Matthew Smith and also comprised Partner Deborah Chew, Special Counsel Kristopher Kunasingam, Senior Associates James Bull and Clare Kerley and National Intellectual Property Manager Raelene Brown.

Partner Matthew Smith said, ‘It has been an interesting and rewarding journey assisting Bravo to bring the Planet Fitness brand to Australia. A cross-practice deal team from our Corporate & Commercial, IP, Employment, Property and Migration practices worked together to establish this international joint venture, and to undertake the various streams of work needed to demonstrate the joint venture’s capability and capacity within the Australian fitness market.’

Hall & Wilcox’s Corporate & Commercial team advises on all aspects of corporate law and regulation affecting public and private companies. Our expertise includes commercial contracts; compliance, including regulatory, corporate governance and directors’ duties; intellectual property; as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, shareholder arrangements, management buyouts and buy-ins (MBOs/MBIs). Matthew Smith’s expertise covers structuring for business ventures as well as commercialisation of IP.