The Gym Group founder nets £3m

The founder of The Gym Group today cashed in £3 million as he floated the low-cost gym chain he founded just seven years ago for £250 million.

John Treharne will remain chief executive of the business and also retains a 3.5% stake, worth a further £9 million. Private equity partners Phoenix Equity Partners and Bridges Ventures pocket £35 million.

Phoenix and Bridges will keep a 28.1% and 13.9% stake respectively, and senior management will have just under 7%. Shares listed today at 195p and instantly jumped 5% to 205p.

The chain, which offers pay-as-you-go membership and 24-hour gyms but cuts costs by only allowing members to sign up online, has grown from a single site in Hounslow, west London, to a 66-branch empire. Treharne plans to open between 15 and 20 new gyms a year working with Bridges — which has been with the company as a seed investor — and Phoenix, which invested in 2013.