TRX, which filed for bankruptcy in June to pursue a sale, announced that its founder and former CEO, Randy Hetrick, and partner, Jack Daly, have acquired the fitness brand.
Hetrick founded TRX in 2004 after inventing the Suspension Trainer as a SEAL team squadron commander and will now lead the company as chairman with Daly, who will serve as CEO.
“It’s gratifying to be back at the helm of TRX when the world is emerging from COVID, and the company needs inspired, innovative leadership,” said Hetrick. “TRX remains one of the fitness industry’s most recognizable and influential global brands and, under a new, experienced management team—powered by passion and renewed vision—our brand will build on its position as the most trusted name in fitness. I couldn’t be happier to be back and to have the opportunity to bring several of my best longtime teammates back with me.”
Suspension Training became a cornerstone of the broader functional fitness movement and expanded its offerings to fitness tools. It also became a source for education and trainer certification through its digital library of training programs for fitness professionals and consumers.
Hetrick founded TRX in 2004 after a career as a Navy SEAL. Core to the brand’s rise was its TRX Suspension Trainer developed by Hetrick during his SEAL years to maintain fitness while deployed in remote locations without access to gym equipment.
Hetrick led TRX for more than 15 years before selling a controlling interest in the company and moving on to found the outdoor mobile fitness venture, OutFit.
In a statement at the time of its bankruptcy, TRX blamed the filing on “the headwinds facing the business, such as increased competition and macroeconomic challenges being faced by many other companies,” as the at-home fitness boom quickly cooled.
Upon the filing, Hetrick said he turned to his friend and private equity veteran, Jack Daly, and his firm, JFXD Capital, to acquire and revitalize the TRX brand.
Daly, a former partner and investment committee member of Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division and TPG Capital, has a 25-year history of investing in and building companies through control transactions. Daly is also a fitness enthusiast and serves as the Treasurer of the Navy SEAL Foundation, where he has served as a member of its Board of Directors for over nine years.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen served as legal counsel. KPMG served as a financial advisor to JFXD Capital. Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik LLP acted as legal counsel, and Kroll Securities served as chief restructuring officer and financial advisor to TRX.
Photo courtesy TRX/Randy Hetrick
