{"id":268229,"date":"2025-11-07T06:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268229\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T06:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:44:09","slug":"billionaire-adrian-portelli-again-eyes-takeover-of-derrimut-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268229\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire Adrian Portelli again eyes takeover of Derrimut empire"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September, Portelli confirmed to The Age he was in negotiations to take over the company<\/a> after taking to social media to share his interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently in negotiations to purchase a stake in the business, which will include assisting in paying off the debts and keeping doors open for the 800 employed staff and the hundreds of thousands of members,\u201d Portelli said at the time.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Age on Friday, Portelli said the gym chain was \u201ctreading water\u201d financially, and despite putting up money to keep the business afloat in the preceding weeks to finalise a deal with Solomos, the process was fraught.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Solomos\u2019 Derrimut Gym has entered into administration.Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have anything against Nick [Solomos],\u201d he said. \u201cI was there, ready to do a deal … but we just kept facing hurdles, and we were just getting mucked around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since hearing about administrators and other parties were interested in throwing the business a lifeline, however, Portelli said he would put a stop to the \u201csharks coming out\u201d to \u201ccapitalise on the market share\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s got anything to do with me, I\u2019m gonna f—ing stop that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can get in there and I know I can clean it up and save that gym. That gym originated from the west where I was born, I went to that gym when I was a young chap. I do want to save that gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portelli said the gym empire entering administration has now made the process easier for him, describing himself as a \u201cbargain hunter\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to go down that path because it\u2019s not a money play for me. I respect the work they\u2019ve done, and I wanted to keep them involved. But my back was pushed against the wall, and here we are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m stepping in for the people, to be honest. I don\u2019t want to see the gym close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few players [expressing interest], but like I said, I\u2019m down for a discount. I\u2019m a bargain hunter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adrian<\/p>\n

Adrian Portelli (centre) said the Derrimut gym chain was \u201ctreading water\u201d financially.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

The original Derrimut 24:7 Gym, based in Melbourne\u2019s north-western suburb of Derrimut, was founded in 2010.<\/p>\n

Portelli confirmed that if he is successful in acquiring the business, there will be no change for members, though he does hope to remove the gym\u2019s \u201cbad boy image\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I do get my hands on it, I can assure you that it will be there to stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nick Solomos was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In September, Portelli confirmed to The Age he was in negotiations to take over the company after taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-268229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}