Did Esporta Buyout La Fitness?
Contents
Some industry experts are speculating that Esporta Health Clubs may have bought out struggling competitor La Fitness.
What is Esporta?
Esporta is a British company that operates a chain of fitness and health clubs in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2001 by entrepreneur Nick Brown and is headquartered in London. The company has been expanding rapidly in recent years and has been involved in a number of high-profile acquisitions, most notably of the La Fitness chain of clubs in 2016.
Esporta’s history
Esporta was founded in 1984 by entrepreneur James B. Clapping. The company started as a small chain of fitness clubs in the Midwest United States. In the early 1990s, Esporta began to expand rapidly, opening new clubs across the country. By the mid-1990s, Esporta was one of the largest fitness club chains in the United States, with over 200 locations.
In 1997, Esporta entered the Canadian market, with the opening of its first club in Toronto.
In 2001, Esporta was acquired by LaSalle Partners (now Jones Lang LaSalle), a large real estate investment firm. LaSalle Partners then sold Esporta to capcom, a Japanese video game company in 2002.
What is La Fitness?
La Fitness is a American health club chain with over 700 clubs across the United States. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. La Fitness is a subsidiary of the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.
La Fitness’s history
La Fitness was started in the 1980s by founders Chin Yol Yi and Louis Welch. The company began as a small chain of fitness clubs in Southern California and has since grown to become one of the largest fitness club chains in the United States. La Fitness now operates over 700 clubs across the country and has plans to continue expanding.
In recent years, La Fitness has been acquired by several different companies. In 2015, the company was acquired by Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm. In 2017, La Fitness was purchased by Activiport, a subsidiary of Esporta, a French company. Activiport then merged La Fitness with Esporta’s other fitness club chain, Touchstone Climbing, to form Touchstone Climbing & La Fitness.
The buyout
On October 28th, 2020, it was announced that Esporta had officially bought out La Fitness. This move came as a surprise to many, as La Fitness had only recently opened up a new location in the city. Esporta is a well-known chain of gyms in the area, and this buyout means that they now have a total of four locations.
Why did Esporta buy out La Fitness?
In February 2007, Esporta Health Clubs acquired thirty-nine of the fifty-six La Fitness health clubs in the United Kingdom. The move was part of Esporta’s strategy to become “the leading operator of mid-market health and fitness clubs in the United Kingdom.”
The purchase price was £102 million (approximately US$204 million at the time of the transaction). A further £4 million (approximately US$8 million) was to be paid if certain financial targets were met.
At the time of the acquisition, La Fitness operated fifty-six health clubs in the United Kingdom, with a total membership of approximately 140,000. The health clubs were located in England, Scotland, and Wales.
What does this mean for the future of La Fitness?
In early 2020, rumors began to circulate that Esporta Health Clubs was planning to buy out La Fitness.
While nothing has been confirmed by either company, many industry analysts believe that such a move would make sense for both brands. La Fitness has long been one of the most popular fitness chains in the United States, while Esporta is a well-known name in the UK health club industry.
If the rumors are true and Esporta does buy out La Fitness, it is not yet clear what this will mean for the future of the brand. It is possible that Esporta will keep La Fitness as a separate entity, or it could choose to rebrand all of its clubs as Esporta Health Clubs.
Whatever the outcome, it is sure to be a major shakeup in the fitness industry. Stay tuned for more updates as this story develops.
