Press Office
New Senior Board Members for Esporta Group
Date: 04 Jun, 2007
On behalf of its client, the Halabi Family Trust (“the Trust”), Buckingham Securities Holdings Plc (“Buckingham”) is pleased to announce the appointment of key senior Board members for Esporta Group (“Esporta”). The new appointments are effective immediately.
David Turner has been appointed Chairman of the Board and Allan Fisher will take on the role of Deputy Chairman. Glenn Timms has been appointed CEO. With Buckingham’s advice, the Trust has revealed a strategy to expand the business rapidly through a combination of organic growth and acquisition of new sites and businesses. This strategy is expected to represent a further investment of circa £1 billion over the next 3 to 5 years and the Trust has put in place the requisite resources.
The new management team brings a wealth of experience and fresh impetus to Esporta.
David Turner co-founded the LA Fitness chain of health and fitness centres and has been at the centre of the industry since its birth. At LA Fitness, he was the Property and Corporate Development Director, charged with responsibility for all new projects as well as site selection, acquisition and development. Trained as a surveyor, Turner founded his first fitness club, City Squash, in 1979 and also set up Market Sports, a 5-a-side football club business, as well as Club Zebra, an interactive health and fitness TV channel.
Allan Fisher was the founder of Holmes Place Plc. He is known throughout the industry for building the company into an international group with leisure clubs throughout Europe and the Middle East. Fisher trained as an accountant and holds an MBA from Columbia University.
Glenn Timms is a proven and acknowledged leader in running multi-location service organisations. He previously served as CEO of ClientLogic EMEA and led a three year performance transformation which culminated in its 2007 merger with Sitel Inc. Prior to this he was CEO of Liberata Plc, the former Deloitte outsourcing business which was significantly expanded and developed over four years, growing into a £200 million organisation employing 4,000 staff, resulting in a sale to a private equity investor. Timms also held senior positions with Diageo and Senior Plc. He is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from Warwick University Business School.
Simon Halabi, advisor to Buckingham, commented “Esporta is one of the strongest and most solid businesses in the health and fitness industry. The new owners have a commitment and vision to develop the business into the leading chain in this sector. This vision will be delivered by the new Board which represents a combined total experience of circa 70 years in this industry as well as strong leadership skills required for this service–based business. Buckingham’s formidable real estate skills will play a key role in helping expand the portfolio of clubs throughout the UK”.
Glenn Timms said “I am delighted to join Esporta and look forward to leading the next phase of this company’s exciting growth. Esporta is a fantastic brand, operating in an increasingly attractive sector and I believe it has great potential for rapid growth over the next 3 to 5 years under the ownership of the Trust”.
Any enquiries should be directed to Tavistock Communications, for the attention of Jeremy Carey, 131 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1NT, phone: 020 7920 3150, e-mail: jcarey@tavistock.co.uk.
4th June 2007