NEW YORK — Town Sports International Inc. is moving ahead with its initial public offering (IPO), which will make it just the third public club company in the health club industry. In June, the company filed to raise $172.5 million in an IPO underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank. At that time, TSI also sought a buyer for the company.
According to the New York Post, the company decided to pursue the IPO route after it received unsatisfactory bids for the company from a number of private-equity firms including Leonard Green & Partners, Bain Capital, MidOcean Partners and Spectrum Equity Investors. TSI, which has 140 clubs and nearly 400,000 members, is valued at between $600 million and $700 million, but an IPO could put a higher valuation on the company, according to the Post.
Industry consultant Rick Caro said TSI would need to update its financials through the third quarter of 2005 in order to proceed with the IPO. TSI chairman Mark Smith was not available for comment.