Fitness First sells Benelux business
| 03-11-2010Poole-headquartered global gym chain Fitness First has sold its Benelux business to HealthCity International for an undisclosed sum. The business comprises 57 clubs trading under the Passage Fitness First, Fitness First and Just Fit brands.
Hoofddorp-headquartered HealthCity is one of the largest operators of fitness centres in Europe. It has 152 clubs in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany trading under the HealthCity and Basic Fit brands. The acquisition gives the company a combined portfolio of more than 200 clubs.
Colin Waggett, CEO of Fitness First, said: "This is an opportunity for us to redirect resources and management focus into higher growth markets, particularly Asia."
Rene Moos, CEO of HealthCity, said: "We are very pleased to be able to add this portfolio of clubs to our estate, further strengthening our market leading position in both full service and budget clubs."
Fitness First is the largest privately-owned health club group in the world and currently has 540 Fitness First clubs worldwide reaching more than 1.4m members in 21 countries.
In the UK there are 159 Fitness First clubs with more than 400,000 members.