Pure Gym ‘close to shelving’ £1.5bn flotation

Leeds-based Pure Gym, Britain’s biggest health and fitness club chain, is reportedly close to calling off a £1.5bn stock market listing.

Sky News says Pure Gym, which is majority-owned by the private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, could decide as soon as this week to shelve its proposed initial public offering (IPO).

Pure Gym has not formally announced an IPO but said earlier this year that it was considering one among options to raise capital.

The group is responsible for 506 gyms across the UK, Denmark, Switzerland and Poland – including at least 285 sites in the UK.

It was founded in 2009 and acquired by Leonard Green in November 2017 from New York PE firm CCMP Capital Advisors who had bought the business in 2013 for an undisclosed figure.

Proceeds were to be used for accelerating new gym openings and paying down the group’s large debt-pile.

Pure Gym is chaired by Tony Ball, the former BSkyB boss, and run by chief executive Humphrey Cobbold.

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