EXCLUSIVE: F45’s biggest franchisees known as ‘the Opulent Group’ – a trio who met at the gym – closes gyms and sell off equipment
The collapse of global fitness empire F45 has led to a number of gyms owned by the chain’s largest franchisee being abruptly closed and their fitness equipment sold off.
The franchisees known as the ‘Opulent Group’ – three men who first met at F45 – have closed at least five gyms in Sydney, four in the southern suburbs of Kogarah, Kirrawee, Caringbah, Miranda and one in Balgowlah , on the other side of the border. northern beaches.
The F45 OG, as they are known, promotes a ‘train and party hard’ ethos that entails a luxurious lifestyle of five-star overseas travel and glamorous parties.
F45 OG started in 2015 and became the ‘largest franchisee worldwide’. The gym company grew from one gym in Sydney In 2012, 2,000 gyms in 66 countries focus on high-intensity functional interval and circuit training with their unique 45-minute classes.
In August 2021, the gym’s share price collapsed from $17.28 to just $3, and has continued to fall, with shares trading for less than $1 since April. The company has announced that it plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange.
The Opulent Group website is full of inspiring statements about success, with the text: ‘Since when does greatness have a limit? Dream big. Greatness is infinite. Boundless. Never ending.’
It claims to ‘deliver world-class workouts’. It is going to be okay.’
The carnage at the cult-like celebrity gym F45 continues with the closure of five gyms in the largest global franchise, the Opulent Group, founded by (left to right) Daniel Capilli, Jordan McCreary and Joel Egan
However, former landlords of OG F45 gyms are owed money and employees claimed they were not paid their pensions for 12 months until they filed a complaint.
At some studios, the companies stopped paying rent and moved equipment before they were locked out, then sold it on Facebook Marketplace.
“Studios are closing and numbers are dropping quite rapidly at the moment,” said one former employee.
Actor Mark Wahlberg (left) with F45 founder Adam Gilchrist a year before the crash and (right) one of the now defunct F45 Opulent Group gyms, in Sydney’s Balgowlah
F45 Opulent Group founders’ party with gym members aboard a boat in Sydney Harbor in 2019, when the franchise was riding high before the stock market massacre
The Opulent Group was founded by Tasmanian private schoolboy and physiotherapist Jordan McCreary, friend Joel Egan and former Royal Australian Navy electronics technician Daniel Capilli.
The three met through F45 when only three studios were open.
Promotional material said: ‘They took a risk and opened their first studio together – F45 Circular Quay in Sydney.
“Fast forward to today, they now own over thirty F45 studios across Australia.”
f45 Opulent Group CEO Jordan Creary (above) in Las Vegas in 2019 at the gym giant’s global conference where he was inducted into the F45 World Hall of Fame
On holiday on Hamilton Island with his family in 2019, a year that saw Jordan McCreary soar with his co-founders of f45’s largest global franchise, the Opulent Group
F45 gyms are closing their doors, forcing franchisees to sell equipment on Facebook Marketplace and other online sites to recoup their investments
As the F45 rode high, Jordan McCreary posted to Instagram from Las Vegas.
“Incredible few days in Vegas at the world conference,” he wrote in 2019.
“I won three awards for some of my amazing studios and spoke to open the conference about our story,” he posted.
‘Was inducted into the F45 Hall of Fame. Inspired to be part of such an amazing community.”
The same year, he went on vacation to Hamilton Island and posted photos of actor and F45 investor Mark Wahlberg.
He said of Wahlberg: “Welcome to the F45 family! I can’t wait to have a session together, buddy’.
He was also featured in a magazine article called ‘F for Fortune’ about his profitable F45 gyms.
Around the same time, Joel Egan posted a photo of himself standing by a helicopter at the base of the Grand Canyon and hiking in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Daniel Capilli paid almost $3 million for a house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Joel Egan in 2019 at the base of the Grand Canyon in the US, where Opulent Group founders flew to attend a global F45 conference as the cult gym was riding high before the stock market soared and then crashed in 2022
The F45 gyms in Kirrawee (left) and Caringbah (right) are closed as the cult gym group continues to suffer
The Christmas Eve party for the F45 Opulent Group was a festive and colorful affair with a Tropicana theme for the staff and gym goers of the franchise which then had ’25 and counting’ studios
On Christmas Eve 2019, they celebrated with an ‘Opulent Tropicana’ themed event celebrating #25andcounting franchise studios.
The party was aboard a boat in Sydney Harbour, with guests dressed in Hawaiian shirts, leis and brightly colored floral attire.
The success of the Opulent Group founders mirrored the trajectory of F45 co-founder Adam Gilchrist (not the former Australian cricket star).
Mr Gilchrist used the money he made from F45 to build a property portfolio across Australia, including a Byron Bay trophy home now worth more than $20 million.
As of mid-2021, F45 had 1,555 studios and 2,801 franchises in 63 countries, with a goal of eventually having 23,000 studios worldwide.
But after Mark Wahlberg invested $450 million in the company and floated on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with Gilchrist, the world’s fastest-growing fitness company worth more than $2 billion fell off a cliff.
Joel, Jordan and Daniel (above) run the F45 Opulent Group, described as the leading global gym group franchise, now hit by F45’s US stock crash.
In July 2022, F45 shares sensationally crashed from a high of $17.28 to less than $2, and last month F45 announced it will delist from the NYSE after its share price fell below $1.
7News reported in March that two Victorian branches in central Melbourne have both permanently closed, while liquidators have been appointed for eight other branches, including Yeppoon in Queensland, in Perth, Melbourne and Mount Barker in South Australia.
Adam Gilchrist resigned as chairman and CEO of F45 Training after last year’s crash and walked away with a $10 million payout, just half of the company’s remaining capital at the time.
According to the ABC, forty-eight of F45’s Australian gyms – about one in ten – are in the market.
At least eight class actions have been filed in the US against F45 in connection with its IPO on the NYSE, alleging “possible violations of securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties.”
Daily Mail Australia has asked Jordan McCreary for answers regarding the F45 Opulent Group closures.
In an Instagram post accompanying the photo of his 2019 ‘F for Fortune’ magazine interview, Mr McCreary wrote: ‘Take risks, follow your gut and work hard! You never know where you’ll end up!
‘I can’t wait to continue growing and challenging the old-fashioned mentality in an industry that is literally changing people’s lives!’.