In an acquisition involving two companies on Club Industry’s Top 100 Clubs list, In-Shape Health Clubs, Stockton, CA, announced last week that it has acquired the five clubs owned by Millennium SportsClubs, Vacaville, CA.
Michelle Clark, vice president of marketing and spokesperson at In-Shape, did not disclose terms of the transaction. However, Clark did confirm a report in The Reporter of Vacaville that In-Shape plans to spend $7 million for upgrades and improvements in the five acquired clubs.
“The No. 1 reason behind any of our growth is the opportunity to offer more options to our members,” Clark says. “Millennium represents a higher-end company, a higher-end club, and this enhances what we’re already doing. Four of their five clubs are in markets that we’re already in, so for us, it was just the ability to add more options to our network.”
The Millennium clubs acquired in the deal are all in California: El Dorado, Merced, Rancho Solano, Vacaville and Vallejo. Clark says In-Shape has no intention of closing any of the acquired clubs. For the next month, In-Shape is allowing Millennium members to go to In-Shape clubs, and In-Shape members must upgrade their memberships to visit the Millennium clubs, Clark says.
In-Shape, founded in 1981, tied for No. 15 on the Top 100 Clubs list this year with an estimated $90 million in 2011 revenue. The estimate was derived from outside sources. The acquisition brings In-Shape’s total number of clubs to 62.
Millennium Sports Clubs, founded in 1991, tied for No. 68 on the Top 100 Clubs list with a reported $10 million in 2011 revenue. Millennium also reported to Club Industry that it had 302 employees and 15,344 memberships as of Dec. 31, 2011. An executive with Millennium referred questions about the acquisition to In-Shape.
The transition involved in the purchase of the five clubs is still a work in progress, Clark says. In-Shape has issued an informational survey to Millennium staff and members that is due back on Oct. 15. The company has not decided whether to keep the Millennium brand on the five clubs or to transfer them to the In-Shape brand, Clark adds.
“They have indoor and outdoor pools,” Clark says of the Millennium clubs. “A lot of their facilities have multiple outdoor pools. They have very robust programming. A lot of their employees have been there for a long time and have created a real sense of family. We want to maintain that.”
“We’re learning a lot right now,” Clark adds. “We’re really excited to bring them into the network.”
In-Shape was active in making deals last year as well. The company acquired Ultimate Fitness, American Canyon, CA, and Elite Fitness, Salinas, CA, for undisclosed sums. In-Shape also has remodeled several of its clubs and began construction on two new locations last year.