NEW YORK-In the past two weeks, Town Sports International (TSI) has made two moves that position it to be bought and/or go public. On June 30, the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that it was “exploring strategic alternatives” including a possible sale. Late last week, the company filed to hold an initial public offering, after which it would trade on Nasdaq under the symbol CLUB. The company stated that the IPO was planned to raise $172.5 million, which would go to redeem some of its senior notes as well as related premiums and interest.
TSI, which is owned by private equity firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. LLC, had $353 million in revenue in 2004. Operating income for 2004 was $34.3 million, net loss was $3.9 million, and EBITDA was $72.7 million. For the 12 months ended March 31, 2005, the company’s revenues, operating income, net loss and EBITDA were $360.7 million, $39.3 million, $1.7 million and $78.4 million, respectively.
In the IPO filing, the company stated that its goal was to become the most recognized health club network in the four major metropolitan regions that it serves. TSI, which has 398,000 members, owns 138 fitness clubs in the Northeast, mostly in and around New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The company operates under the Sports Club brand names: New York Sports Clubs, Boston Sports Clubs, Philadelphia Sports Club and Washington Sports Clubs. The company also has three locations in Switzerland.
The IPO filing did not state how many shares the company planned to offer or the price range of the IPO. The IPO is being underwritten by Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co.