In a second bid for the Blink Fitness chain of fitness centers, Planet Fitness is reportedly looking to expand its number of locations. At one point throughout the day, PLNT shares increased by over 5% when news of the revived proposal surfaced on Wednesday.
The current owner of Blink Fitness is Equinox Holdings Inc., a New York-based company that runs other clubs and brands in the US, Canada, and Britain.
It was in August that Blink declared bankruptcy. According to CNBC, a Delaware bankruptcy court meeting was convened on Wednesday to examine the fresh proposals.
After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the U.S. cheap fitness industry, the once-luxury Blink fitness center network has been involved in bankruptcy court for a while.
Recently, due in part to antitrust issues, Planet Fitness lost its first bid for Blink Holdings in a bankruptcy auction against the privately held British company PureGym.
PureGym won the bankruptcy auction for Blink Fitness, together with its assets and 60 of its gym facilities in New York and New Jersey, last week in its $121 million bid to enter the U.S. market after first arriving in 2021.
Planet Fitness did, however, submit two fresh ideas.
A deposit of approximately $28 million would accompany a $142 million offer for Blink assets, assuming Planet Fitness would not be obliged to pay in advance to resolve any lingering antitrust issues over the potential for it to own a sizable portion of American fitness chains.
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With an additional $31 million deposit and a proviso that included specific regulatory filings addressing concerns about potential antitrust violations beforehand, a second offer upped the monetary amounts to $155 million.
However, the business, which is valued at around $6.8 billion and has more than 2,000 clubs in the US, has been working to grow its network in recent years.
The $800 million purchase of 114 Sunshine Fitness sites in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina was announced in January 2022 by Planet Fitness, which had previously mostly operated in the northeastern United States.
