LA Fitness broadens its Horizons

LA Fitness has acquired the Horizons Health and Leisure Club in Lincoln to add to its portfolio of 28 clubs. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, is part of the operator's strategy to accelerate growth in the UK and even in Europe, as reported in Leisure Opportunities. LA Fitness' Philip Okrent says the group had been interested in building a new property in Lincoln prior to the sale: Lincoln was a city that we were interested in, however, the opportunity to acquire a recently developed going concern made Horizons attractive to us. Jon Patrick, director of leisure at Christie & Co who handled the sale, says LA Fitness was one of many interested parties: Horizons attracted considerable interest from corporate operators. Being a 23,000sq ft purpose-built facility with swimming pool on a two-acre site and with 2,000 members, its profile was suited to a number of corporate health and fitness operators.