In December 2020, Family Trust Beteiligungsholding acquired a majority stake in the bouldering gym operator Urban Apes, which had three halls at the time of the transaction. Urban Apes is a bouldering gym group founded by sports enthusiasts with the mission to make bouldering accessible to as many people as possible.
Together with the founders of Urban Apes, Family Trust was able to make three add-on acquisitions (4 locations) within the first ten months and integrate them into the group. In addition, one new location was opened, and another is about to be opened, making the Urban Apes Group Germany’s largest private provider of bouldering gyms by the end of 2021.
Commenting on the transactions, Lars Großkurth and Malte Weber, founders of Urban Apes, said: “With the capital and expertise of FTI as a buy & build investor, we were already able to develop into Germany’s largest bouldering hall operator within the first ten months after the transaction.”
Carsten Abdel Hadi, Managing Director of FTI, added: “Since the end of last year, the partnership with Urban Apes has formed the foundation of our Buy & Build strategy. Through the acquisitions, the next important milestones for building the leading German Boulder Group have already been achieved. We are convinced that we will expand the group’s market leadership in the coming year with further acquisitions and organic growth.”