Bad Vibrations? Mark Wahlberg's Fitness Studio Gets Funky Buyout Offer - Way Less Than IPO Price

Mark Wahlberg’s F45 Training Gym Holdings Inc. (NYSE: FXLV) was an Australian success story, blowing up to a $1.4 billion valuation at its $16 initial public offering (IPO).

Now, the Austin, Texas-based company is valued at just $308.86 million — and it just received a buyout offer at $4 per share, 75% less than what it IPO'd at.

However, the offer to purchase F45 — proposed by Kennedy Lewis Management (KLM) — represented an 83% premium to the company’s closing price on Thursday.

The offer tendered by KLM caused shares to jump 44% intraday to settle at $3.16, which is closer to the buyout price.

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KLM believes it can finance the deal with cash and that a formal contract would not impose a financing requirement.

The investor announced its expanded investment in the gym in late August after purchasing more than 3.5 million shares between Aug. 18 and Aug. 29.

KLM is the third largest F45 holder with a 14.6% stake.

Whether Wahlberg, who invested at least $110 million in the business, will accept the deal remains to be seen.

The offer is contingent on other significant investors agreeing to roll their current equity into the proposed transaction.

In July 2021, F45 went public with a $325 million initial public offering (IPO) in which the firm sold over 20 million shares at $16 per for a market value of $1.46 billion, returning the “Good Vibrations” rapper at least $200 million.

However, the success was short-lived.

In F45’s first earnings report, the company missed on earnings but narrowly beat on revenues – in its second report, the company missed on both top and bottom lines, and unfortunately, it did not get better from there.

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In February, F45 lost a Federal court battle to Body Fit in its founding country that saw two of F45’s innovation patents revoked, as well as paying Body Fit’s legal fees.

Then, on July 25, the company eliminated around 45% of its workforce, drastically cut its outlook and guidance, and announced the departure of its former CEO, Adam Gilchrist.