Pure Gym beats Ashley and Hands to buy rival LA Fitness

Pure Gym is buying rival chain LA Fitness, having has beaten off bid rivals Mike Ashley and Guy Hands.

The US private equity-backed Pure Gym today emerged triumphant from a three month long bid battle which saw it up against not only the owner of Sport Direct and the man behind Terra Firma but also trade rival Fitness First.

Today’s £80m deal will add an extra 43 LA Fitness gym clubs, mainly located within the M25, to Pure Gym’s existing chain of 98 budget gyms across the UK. The Leeds-based Pure Gym is also looking to open another 30 new sites this year.

Humphrey Cobbold, the chief executive of Pure, said the deal was good for gym goers looking for affordable clubs. “Overall demand for affordable, high quality, and no-contract fitness centres is continuing to grow, served by a range of providers in a highly competitive market-place,” he added.

The LA Fitness brand will be gradually switched across to the Pure Gym format of no contracts and 24 hour opening. The deal has to pass the competition authority’s scrutiny. An attempt last year by Pure Gym to merge with the discount chain Gym Group was abandoned after regulators objected to the deal.