Mazars lead dealmaker behind Westfield Health's Dutch acquisition
Sheffield-based Westfield Health has acquired Netherlands-headquartered High Five Health Promotion in a multimillion-pound deal. The deal was advised on by dealmakers from several consultancies and law firms, helmed by lead advisor Mazars.
With almost 500 employees and 65 gyms internationally, Westfield Health is one of UK’s largest health and wellbeing providers. The addition of High Five Health Promotion adds a large clientele in mainland Europe to its roster, including the likes of Daimler, KPMG, Shell and NATO.
Founded in 1988, High Five Health Promotion provides on-site corporate fitness and wellbeing services, and has a footprint of 50+ on-site gyms in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
Additionally, High Five offers the employees of its clients access to a fitness network of more than two thousand gyms including club chains like BasicFit.
“This acquisition represents a continuation of our diversification into the exciting and important wellbeing market. By combining the two companies’ expertise, we can accelerate our growth in this industry both in the UK and internationally, allowing us to make a healthy difference to more people,” said Dave Capper, the chief executive of Westfield Health.
Paul Kienstra, who founded High Five Health Promotion, said that in his decision to sell the company “it was really important to find a company that shared our values and vision.”
The move comes at a time of growing demand for wellbeing and vitality services. According to one estimate, the global corporate wellness market is now worth over $55 billion, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 7% up to 2025. Against a backdrop of growing awareness for health, an ageing workforce and changing workforce preferences, organisations are beefing up their wellbeing spending.
The deal was advised on by M&A advisors from several consulting firms. Mazars Financial Advisory Services (Aron de Jong) and Dutch boutique PhiDelphi Corporate Finance (Joris Heerkens, Jules van Kuijk) provided M&A advisory services, while experts from Mazars Financial Advisory Services also supported with business valuation (Jasper Rodewijk, Jeroen van Dijk, Iris Boom, Lianne Koopman, Dion Wesselink), transaction support (Bas den Ouden, Jeroen Oster, Hiam Hayba) and tax advisory (Eric Klein Hesseling, Thierry Boonstra, Fabien Tolhuis).
Meanwhile, legal consultancy was provided by dealmakers from law firms CMS and local Dutch player Wijn & Stael.
The acquisition is the third in three years for Westfield Health. In January 2018, the company purchased UK Healthcare, a Bolton-based health cash plan provider with an annual turnover of £4 million, and one month earlier, Working Health was bolted-on. Back in 2011 Westfield Health bought PatientChoice, an administrator and seller of health insurance products.