Black Sea Fund acquired a majority stake in Gymboland, the local market leader in indoor playgrounds for children by the number of locations

Black Sea Fund, an investment fund focused on mid-sized companies and targeting transactions between four to eight million euros, has acquired a

majority stake in Kids Element SA (Gymboland Group), the company that owns and operates indoor playgrounds and gaming arcades under the Gymboland and Rematch brands. The group currently has a network of 13 locations in Bucharest, Constanta and Ploiesti.

The transaction will allow an accelerated development of the Gymboland group, the

shareholders planning to double the number of locations in the next three years, expand outside Romania, and introduce innovative concepts of entertainment and recreation for children.

The value of the deal is confidential. The transaction was signed in the second half of November and involved both the acquisition of existing shares, as well as a capital increase.

Plans to extend in Central and Eastern Europe

Gymboland is a brand launched in 2009 by the couple Adi and Lavi Shalom together with Favi Stelian. The idea to launch Gymboland was Lavi Shalom's. At the time of launch, Gymboland was one of the first players to enter the local children's indoor playgrounds market and soon

became a leader in the segment by the number of locations.

Rematch is a brand launched in 2022 and represents areas with games featuring a variety of activities for the whole family.

Gymboland targets children under ten years old, while Rematch is for all the family, but
especially for teenagers.

This year around 280,000 children played in Gymboland and Rematch locations.

In 2022, the group reached a turnover of just over €3 million, and currently, the network has 125 employees and 13 locations in Bucharest, Ploiești, and Constanța. Gymboland and Black Sea Fund plans to have over 25 Gymboland and Rematch units by the end of 2026. The targeted cities are those with more than 50,000 inhabitants.

The shareholders consider expanding the brand and its concepts regionally, in countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

A market of €75 million

The Romanian market for children's entertainment spaces is around €75 million, of which the indoor playgrounds market represents around €20 million, according to Black Sea Fund’s estimates. The balance encompasses waterparks, outdoor adventure parks and other entertainment concepts (karting, etc.).

“In the 14 years since we launched the business, Gymboland has grown strongly and built a good reputation that helped us make our decision to go hand in hand with the Black Sea Fund. We believe that the Black Sea Fund team is a partner that has a real interest in the world of children and wants to develop it on a larger scale. So we saw this as an opportunity to expand the Gymboland & Rematch chain and make more children happy. Thus, along with this step, we intend to develop new units in shopping centers and also to open our first family entertainment center that will offer solutions for all ages. These include food service, separate areas for parents, children's shows, and other necessary services for parents and kids in one place”, stated Adi Shalom, Managing Director & Co-founder Kids Element S.A, the company that owns and operates Gymboland and Rematch brands.

“The idea of creating play centers for children came after we came to Romania after several years we both spent in the USA. At that time we didn't have children, but we noticed this market need in Romania. Now we have three children and we want our services to best meet the needs of the parents and children. Thus, every year we go to the most important entertainment events and exhibitions in the world, especially in the USA and Europe, just to bring new ideas, strategies and services to Romania”, added Lavi Shalom, Co-founder Kids Element S.A.

"What attracted us to Gymboland was the opportunity to invest in a great team and a leading company both in terms of network and turnover operating in a market with huge growth potential in Romania. The children's entertainment and recreation market has important room for growth if we look at how big the demand is vis-a-vis the offer, especially if we consider that most of the indoor entertainment offering for children is in Bucharest, especially in the north of Bucharest, and in a few big cities. We hope that by investing in Gymboland we can contribute to the development of this niche and make the indoor playgrounds accessible to as many children and parents as possible", said Arin Ion, Founding Partner at Black Sea Fund.

Who were the advisers in this transaction 

BICF | IMAP Romania has assisted Gymboland as a financial consultant for this transaction, with the team being led by Alin Pop (Partner). The team included Bogdan Cîmpean (Vice President) and George Dolea (Analyst).

“Working alongside enthusiastic entrepreneurs that create businesses and brands from passion is something great, as you feel you can contribute to the success story, especially when the entrepreneurs are attracting capital to expand the business to the next level, as in Gymboland's case”, said Alin Pop, Partner BICF | IMAP Romania.

In this transaction, PeliPartners was the legal adviser to Gymboland and RTPR to the Black Sea Fund. PeliPartners and RTPR assisted the two parties throughout the entire transaction process, including with respect to transaction structuring, the negotiation and signing of the transaction documents, fulfilment of conditions precedent, as well as with respect to the completion of the deal.

PeliPartners team was coordinated by Carmen Peli (Partner) and included Delia Dumitrescu (Associate), Alexandra Ioniță (Managing Associate) and Valentina Bujor (Associate).

“We are delighted to have assisted our client Gymboland in this transaction which contributes to expanding the presence of the brand on the local market. It was a complex transaction, completed in record time, regarding a group of companies developed with attention to the needs of entertainment and recreation for children. The successful completion of the transaction nevertheless demonstrates that the private equity investment market is effervescent at the end of the year, that quality assets are still in high demand", stated Carmen Peli, Partner and Head of Corporate M&A at PeliPartners.

The RTPR team was led by Roxana Ionescu (Partner) and seconded by Marina Fechetă – Giurgică (Managing Associate) and Șerban Hălmăgean (Associate) for overall coordination on due diligence and all transaction streams, with further support on due diligence from Irina Marinescu, Maria Luca, David Mirea and Daria Spătariu (Junior Associates).

“Thrilled to have had the opportunity to assist Black Sea Fund on another successful transaction and to have executed it in an extremely tight calendar. It is always a pleasure to work along determined investors and ambitious entrepreneurs. This adds up to an incredible year for our M&A practice area”, declared Roxana Ionescu, Partner at RTPR.

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