Once Boranbayev's Fitness Club: 96% of Profits to Go to Regional Budget

Qostanay journalists discovered that the FitNation fitness club, which Kairat Boranbayev controlled, was given into trust management, Orda.kz reports.

The company that managed the FitNation chain is still formally listed as belonging to the oligarch.

As Nasha Gazeta writes, on November 16, a similar institution called Underground opened in the building where the FitNation club used to operate.

Bakhtiyar Kospanov, the acting head of the regional physical culture and sports department, has stated the building was transferred to the balance sheet of the KSU School of Higher Sports Mastery, a state institution under the Akimat.

KSU held a tender, after which a private company leased the club. 

The lease term is ten years, and there is no option to buy it out. The club will be under trust management, and its new tenants expressed their willingness to pay 96% of their profits to the regional budget.

Kairat Boranbayev officially handed over the FitNation chain of clubs to the state on October 18, 2023.

However, FitnessLink LLP managed this business and has not gone anywhere. It continues to exist, and what’s more, it is still owned by the same founders, Sholpan Boranbaeva and AATD LLP, which belongs to Kairat Boranbayev.

It can be assumed that FitnessLink's assets were transferred to the balance sheets of the Akimats of Almaty, Astana, and the Qostanay region per separate agreements. We are unaware whether Boranbayev personally signed off on these agreements.

In April, the Ministry of Finance admitted that the oligarch had transferred some confiscated assets to the state.

There are gift agreements, but Boranbayev's signatures were not on them. FitnessLink LLP was among the companies whose status the government agencies did not clarify.

The former FitNation network officially lists only one club — in Almaty.

The Qostanay branch was also once listed, but information about it is no longer available.

FitNation's official Instagram for the Qostanay branch has not been updated since 2021.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny