Planet Fitness is seeking to make a bid for budget-gym Blink Fitness after previously losing out last week in a bankruptcy auction to U.K.-based fitness chain PureGym.
Equinox Group-owned gym chain Blink Fitness filed for bankruptcy in August after a failed attempt by the luxury fitness group to enter the budget-friendly market.
On October 31, PureGym won the bankruptcy auction for Blink and its assets, including 60 of its gyms in New York and New Jersey, with a bid of $121 million. An acquisition of Blink locations would expand PureGym’s U.S. operations after the company first entered the market in 2021.
On Friday, in the closing hour of the deal’s 48-hour challenge period, Planet Fitness, the largest gym chain in the U.S. with more than 2,000 locations, in a filing from unsecured creditors submitted two larger competing bids: $141 million if no premerger regulatory filings were required, and $153 million if Planet Fitness had to submit the paperwork, according to the New York Post.
Planet Fitness’s initial bid was also higher than PureGym’s winning offer but was rejected in part because of concerns around antitrust considerations, sources told CNBC.
Blink Fitness’ debtors made a filing Monday night in support of Pure Gym’s initial offer, arguing the sale process “culminated in the highest and best bid with a well-financed strategic buyer,” a source close to the process told the New York Post.
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