INTERVIEW REYNIR INDAHL
The senior advisor for Altor Equity Partners, and chair of Health & Fitness Nordic, talks to Kate Cracknell about the disruptive influence of technology, and the fundamental need for businesses to be useful
Reynir Indahl, senior advisor for Altor Equity Partners – the private equity firm that last month completed the merger of Scandinavian health club chains SATS, Elixia and Fresh Fitness following a year- long anti-trust process – when I meet him on a flying visit to London. “Operators have been thinking of
T
themselves as suppliers of a physical gym product, but we have to turn this around. Gyms will always be a key part of what we offer, but the end consumer is changing and we need to look at things from their perspective, making sure we harness our resources in a way that addresses their needs. “Customers simply want to reach their
goals, sometimes training outdoors, sometimes indoors, sometimes while they’re away on holiday, sometimes when they live in a place where there’s no gym. They want to know if they’re improving and on-track to reach their goals, and they can do that much better digitally. That’s where our new technology strategy comes in, whereby our physical gyms will become just one of the products we offer – and hopefully over time not even our biggest product. “That’s a major departure, essentially
moving from a club-centred model to a customer-centred model, and it’s something the whole sector needs to do. If we’re not able to get out of the box –
he whole global fitness industry seems to be behind the curve on technology,” says
Indahl came to health and fi tness via the fi elds of consultancy and technology
and I mean that physically – we’re missing huge growth opportunities. But I see very few operators internationally who have achieved that shift. Coming into this sector, I’m a bit surprised by how old- fashioned it is. The industry is running the risk of being completely disrupted.”
SATURATION POINT? Indahl, now chair of Health & Fitness Nordic – the parent company under which the SATS, Elixia and Fresh Fitness brands continue to operate – may not have previous fitness industry experience, but his words are to be heeded. A business degree was followed
40 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
by a stint at management consultancy McKinsey, then an MBA at Harvard, after which he ran a technology company. Joining Altor when it launched its fi rst
fund in 2003, he has since been involved in a number of technology company investments where the focus was on “growth, getting into new markets, launching new products”. Indeed, Altor’s philosophy is to
target companies where it can have a marked impact on growth or improvement. “We’re very active investors, getting involved in creating strategies and setting targets. Ours is a 15-year fund, but we typically bring in a
July 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92