A group of unsecured creditors is pressuring a UK company to derail the sale of bankrupt gym chain Blink after it won the auction on Planet Fitness, The Post has learned.
Planet Fitness – the largest US gym chain with more than 2,000 locations – had made an 11th-hour bid to acquire Blink, which last week accepted a lower offer from UK-based Pure Gym, sources told Exclusively. told The Post.
Pure Gym – which opens its first three gyms in the US in 2022 – submitted a winning bid of $121 million last week to win the auction for Blink, as the UK company looks to expand. According to an April press release, the company aims to open more than 300 gyms in the US over the next five years.
But on Friday, in the final moments of the deal’s 48-hour challenge period, Planet Fitness submitted two larger competing bids: $141 million if no premerger regulatory filings were required, and $153 million if Planet Fitness was required to submit the paperwork. Was.
Blink’s debtors made a filing Monday night in support of Pure Gym’s initial offering, saying the sale process “culminated in the highest and best bid with a well-financed strategic buyer,” a source close to the process said. .
The proposals will be considered in Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday.
Planet Fitness did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Planet Fitness first made a bid to acquire Blink and its approximately 60 locations on October 23 after the company Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection In August, a source close to the matter told The Post.
The source said the debtor and the investment bank overseeing the auction had rejected the offer out of concern that the acquisition would face lengthy antitrust challenges that could prevent Blink from emerging from bankruptcy as the company is only 30 days away. Running on cash of Rs.
Blink was founded in 2011 in New York City. According to its website, the low-cost gym chain charges between $15 and $40 per month for membership. Blink is owned by Equinox, a luxury fitness club whose expensive gyms charge more than $500 per month for their memberships.
Blink’s prices at the NYC locations range between $22 and $45 per month after a few price increases over the past few years. The company also has locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Texas.
But like many others, Blink also fell victim to the pandemic-era gym drought that popularized free at-home fitness videos. Gyms have yet to see these consumers, who have been hit hard by sticky inflation, fully return.
Shortly after the company filed for bankruptcy, it announced it would be closing about 10% of its gyms. Blink is continuing operations at its remaining gyms during the sale process.
