Health and fitness club members throughout the country could soon notice changes to their fitness clubs as consolidation in the industry continues to take place. This afternoon, LA Fitness, announced it is acquiring 171 clubs from Bally Total Fitness, for $153 million.
The acquisition involves Bally clubs in 16 states plus the District of Columbia. The deal is expected to be completed on Nov. 30. After completion of the transaction, Bally will continue to operate its remaining 100 clubs.
The states in which the Bally clubs have been acquired are Arizona, California (Southern California), Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Washington, the District of Columbia and certain locations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.For part of this year, Bally had been in talks with Gold’s Gym International, Irving, TX. Officials from both companies met in early August in Chicago. According to a source, among the topics that were discussed were Bally’s club operations, facilities, real estate and finances. Gold’s was to visit about 40 Bally clubs, according to a source. But talks of a possible Gold's acquisition of Bally cooled later.
The LA Fitness acquisition of Bally marks the second big deal in the industry in the past four days. On Tuesday, Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, announced it had acquired four clubs operated by Lifestyle Family Fitness, St. Petersburg, FL, in Ohio and Indiana and that it could acquire up to another five in North Carolina.
In August, Equinox, New York, announced it was purchasing four The Sports Club/LA clubs from The Sports Club Co., Los Angeles. That deal went for $130 million, according to a source, and was finalized in October.