Stephen Johnson, Daily Mail Australian Economics Correspondent
21:53 February 27, 2024, updated 04:31 February 28, 2024
Another Sydney gym, F45, has also gone into liquidation as the Australian global fitness chain backed by American actor Mark Wahlberg winds down.
F45 Training Alexandria in Sydney’s inner south has closed 10 years after it opened in an area packed with high-rise apartment buildings.
As the Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced the liquidation, members received an email on Monday directing them to another F45 gym in Rosebery, three kilometers away.
“Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, F45 Alexandria is currently closed,” the company said.
“If you would like more information about F45 training, please contact the team at F45 Rosebery.
“Have a healthy and happy day! F45 training Alexandria.
Personal trainer and gym owner Damian Abson’s DRX Fitness Pty Ltd company was registered in 2014 and operated the Alexandria franchise.
The closure also comes just months after Abson underwent foot surgery.
He regularly posts videos on Facebook, often wearing strange outfits, including wearing green tinsel just before Christmas.
Graham Beattie, managing principal of NSW insolvency group Worrells, has been appointed administrator of F45 Alexandria.
F45 Training Alexandria’s closures will follow at Perth Airport in June 2022, Port Melbourne in March 2023, Parramatta in Sydney’s west in September 2023, another Perth gym in November 2023, and another in Queensland. It is the latest in a series of F45 liquidations, including in Springfield, near Ipswich. In January.
Nearby F45 Zetland Gym went into liquidation in May 2023.
The F45 Training Alexandria gym in Waterloo opened seven years before the Texas-based, Australian-founded company went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wahlberg, a financial backer of the gym chain, joined Australian founder and former chief executive Adam Gilchrist to ring the New York Stock Exchange bell in July 2021.
F45’s newest chief executive, Tom Dowd, who was appointed in March last year to turn around the struggling training company, told Daily Mail Australia in September: “We are prepared to downsize in order to grow. “There is,” he said.
“Closing unproductive locations to add value to existing studios strengthens our system,” he said in a statement.
‘Ann A key part of our real estate strategy is to avoid oversaturation.
“We are focused and committed to supporting our franchise network. Their operational success helps strengthen the entire system.”
Starting in 2012 with one gym in Sydney, F45 has grown to 1,555 studios and 2,801 franchises across 63 countries by mid-2021. Eventually he aimed to have 23,000 studios worldwide.
Wahlberg, through his investment company, bought a majority stake in 2019 for US$450 million, or US$634 million.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Alexandria and Worrells, who are training F45s, for comment.
