Permira plots £700m bid for upmarket gyms operator Third Space. Tuesday, 4 August 2026 14:30 By Mark Kleinman, City editor The buyout firm Permira is among a pack of bidders pursuing a possible £700m takeover of Third Space, the upmarket London-based health clubs operator. Sky News has learnt that Permira, which has backed premium consumer brands such as Dr Martens, Hugo Boss and Valentino, has begun working on an offer for Third Space ahead of a deadline for formal bids later this year. If it proceeds with a formal bid, the private equity group is likely to face stiff competition from rival bidders attracted to Third Space's rapid growth. The gyms and wellness company operates 15 clubs across the capital, with a plan to double that number by the end of 2031. The rapid expansion of its footprint and profitability has marked Third Space out in a sector often characterised by sluggish growth. Third Space is owned by KSL Capital Partners, an American private equity firm, which appointed Goldman Sachs to handle an auction earlier this year. Sources said its valuation ambitions ranged from between £700m to as high as £1bn. Third Space operates sites in the City and Soho, as well as more suburban locations such as Clapham Junction and Wimbledon. They are positioned at the luxury end of the gyms market, offering HYROX, hot yoga and dozens of other classes to members. KSL acquired a stake in the business in 2021, acquiring a majority stake from Encore Capital, another investment firm. Last October, Third Space secured £75m in debt finance from Oaknorth, alongside Searchlight Capital, another existing lender, to help fund its expansion. "We are seeing exceptionally strong demand for Third Space memberships, with most of our clubs operating with waiting lists," Colin Waggett, chief executive, said last autumn. "Our business sits at the heart of Londoners' desire for health and fitness, authentic experiences and luxury service, and Third Space is uniquely positioned to meet these demands." Permira declined to comment.

Visa to buy cybersecurity firm BioCatch for $2.4 billion amid surge in AI-powered scams. Advertisements Nikolas Kokovlis | Nurphoto | Getty Images Visa on Monday said it is acquiring fraud detection startup BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash, expanding the payment giant's push into cybersecurity as banks confront a surge in artificial intelligence-powered scams and account takeovers. Under the deal, Visa will get BioCatch's behavioral biometrics platform, which analyzes data including keystroke timing, touch screen pressure and other signals to distinguish real users from scammers and bots. Visa said it is acquiring the firm from London-based private equity firm Permira and other investors. The acquisition underscores how payments companies are racing to strengthen fraud defenses as generative AI makes attacks cheaper, faster and more convincing. Visa estimates that scams and account takeovers cost the global economy more than $1 trillion annually. It is also the latest move by Visa to expand its value-added services business, which sells fraud prevention, cybersecurity and analytics software to financial institutions and has become one of the company's fastest-growing divisions. "BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment," Andrew Torre, Visa's president of value-added services, said in a statement. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of Visa's fiscal second quarter in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Other financial terms weren't disclosed. While the Israeli startup said it currently protects 760 million users across roughly 350 banks, Visa's global rails connect nearly 14,500 financial institutions, processing over 329 billion transactions annually worth more than $17 trillion. In a blog post accompanying the announcement, BioCatch said joining Visa will allow it to scale its impact amid a rising tide of global fraud. "The reality is, as a society and industry, we are not winning this fight," the firm said. "The value of fraud and scam losses and the number of fraud and scam attempts, mule accounts, and victims of these financial crimes all continue to grow (in some cases, exponentially) every year, all around the world." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.