Brightwood Capital Advisors Provides Debt Financing to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners’ Impact Fitness

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brightwood Capital Advisors (“Brightwood”), a middle market private credit firm, announced that it has provided debt financing to support the continued growth and expansion of Impact Fitness (“Impact” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (“MSCP”).

Impact Fitness is a leading Planet Fitness franchisee with locations across the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Brighton, Michigan, the company was founded in 2006 by Chris Klebba with the opening of its first Planet Fitness club in the Greater Detroit market. Since then, Impact has grown to include 44 clubs across Michigan, Indiana, British Columbia, and Ontario. In addition to operating top-performing locations in the Planet Fitness system, Impact is dedicated to improving the communities in which it operates by providing high-quality, affordable gym access to underserved communities, partnering with local charitable organizations, and hiring talent from the cities and towns the clubs serve. Impact achieved B-Corp eligibility status in 2018 and is a recognized leading franchisee in the Planet Fitness system.

“This transaction is a testament to our team’s 10+ years of institutional knowledge of the fitness space and ability to deliver flexible financing solutions,” said Kunal Shah, Managing Director at Brightwood. “As long-time partners of MSCP, we look forward to supporting Impact Fitness in its next stage of growth as it looks to open new clubs and provide affordable gym access to underserved communities.”

“Having worked with Brightwood for many years, we knew their deep knowledge of the fitness industry and nimble investment team made them the ideal partner for this transaction,” said James Stewart, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. “We’re confident that with Brightwood’s support, Impact Fitness is positioned for long-term growth and look forward to seeing its continued success.”

About Brightwood Capital

Brightwood Capital Advisors, LLC is a private credit firm with a long-standing track record of investing in middle market businesses. Brightwood specializes in providing senior debt capital primarily to U.S. businesses with $5-$75 million of EBITDA within five core industries: technology & telecommunications, healthcare, business services, transportation & logistics and franchising. Brightwood partners with non-sponsored businesses as well as private equity sponsors to provide customized financing solutions for directly originated investments.

Founded in 2010, Brightwood is a minority-owned firm with a team of over 50 employees who manage more than $5 billion of assets on behalf of its primarily institutional investor base. Brightwood is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please visit: https://brightwoodlp.com/.

About Morgan Stanley Capital Partners

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, is a leading middle-market private equity platform that has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over three decades. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners focuses on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments primarily in North America and seeks to create value in portfolio companies primarily in a series of subsectors in the business services, consumer, healthcare, education and industrials markets with an emphasis on driving significant organic and acquisition growth through an operationally focused approach. For further information about Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im/capitalpartners.