Low-cost operator Fitness Hut has announced it completed a transaction with Portuguese investment fund Oxy Capital on 2 July, providing the chain with access to €12m (US$16.2m, £9.4m) of growth funding.

The funding has been made available via mezzanine financing, meaning that Fitness Hut’s owners have avoided dilution.

The chain currently has seven operational clubs in Portugal and one in pre-sale that will open in the first half of September in the Lisbon Expo area.

The new funding will also allow Fitness Hut to sign leases for a further four clubs by the end of this month, as these have been negotiated on a ‘subject to financing’ basis. Fit-outs on these four sites will be commenced by the end of September, with a view to opening the new clubs during December 2014 / January 2015. All four of the new clubs are located in the Greater Lisbon area.

Fitness Hut co-founder Nick Coutts says: “During 2015, we will be opening an average of one club per month, with a view to finishing 2015 with 20 open clubs in Portugal.”

Fitness Hut was launched in 2011 by Coutts, Andre Groen and JP Carvalho, with the first site opening in Lisbon in October of that year.