Break-up in store for Esporta

Source/Contact: Leisure Opportunities, 10/06/2008

A decision is imminent on whether troubled health club operator Esporta will be broken up and sold in pieces to bidders in an auction run by investment bank Greenhill.  Before the deadline, bids were expected from David Lloyd leisure (DLL), 3i and Advent International, as well as LVG and MidOcean partners, who hope to merge Esporta with their own chains – LA Fitness and Fitness First. It is believed the group could be sold for as little as ₤180m, a blow to the ownership, the Halabi Family Trust, which paid an estimated ₤470m for the chain in November 2006.  Bell Leisure Investments, Esporta’s holding company, has been in administration since August 2007.