Goodlife expansion continues with Fenix acquisition

Less than three weeks after its purchase of Fitness Firsts' entire South Australian portfolio, Goodlife Health Clubs has announced the acquisition of Fenix Fitness Clubs for a total consideration of $60.9 million in a move that will see Goodlife become the second largest full service fitness club chain in Australia.

One of the newest players to the market, Fenix operates 10 clubs throughout the Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria and the Gold Coast with 35,773 members.

Goodlife Health Clubs has been Ardent Leisure's strongest performing operating division with a proven track record of above market membership and profit growth - recently reporting an EBITDA increase of 21.4% in FY12 and constant club EBRITDA growth of 6% in financial year 2011/12.

With a strict strategy governing the acquisition process, Goodlife Health Clubs Chief Executive Greg Oliver said the Fenix Fitness Clubs portfolio agreed with their existing network and operating model.

Oliver explained "we have undergone a clear, rigorous process to assess the opportunity and have identified a strong cultural alignment between the two brands.

"Our operation processes and systems are similar and the move significantly strengthens our position in identified growth markets of Victoria and Queensland."

Oliver said the incredible full year results and sales growth announced last month also placed the health club in good stead for growth in these markets, adding "our solid performance in the Ardent Leisure full year results saw Goodlife continue to grow strong and gain market share against all major competitors, we strengthened our Melbourne portfolio with the acquisition of Waverley Park, Caroline Spring and Prahan clubs and showed improvement across all key indicators, including an increase in EBITDA and constant club revenue."

The acquisition of the Fitness First and Fenix clubs will position Goodlife as the second largest full service health and gym chain in Australia with a total number of 63 clubs nationally.

The transaction is expected to close on or before 31st October 2012.

Oliver concluded "our strategy in health clubs is to achieve leading position in key markets. We are the leading player in Queensland with a total of 19 clubs, South Australia with eight clubs and we're committed to growing our Victorian portfolio and building our network in Melbourne.

"Our aim is to continue to provide outstanding service to members and transition these clubs and their members to the Goodlife family with little disruption to current programs and operations."

Celebrating 10 years in the business this year, the health club also recently appeared in the IHRSA Global List in the categories of Number of Clubs, Numbers of Members and Revenue Growth.