Town Sports International Holdings has signed a deal to acquire the studio business of indoor cycling company Flywheel Sports.

Established in 2010, Flywheel currently has 29 locations across the US and in addition to cycling has also developed "off-bike" training workouts – including FlyBarre and FlyFIT.

Town Sports is a holding company which operates a number of fitness chains. Its current portfolio is concentrated on the east coast of the US and includes 100+ New York Sports Club-branded sites in New York and around 30 Boston Sports Clubs in Boston. Outside the US, the group owns three clubs in Switzerland. In 2018, Town Sports acquired the Total Woman Gym and Spa business, which included 12 sites.

"Flywheel is an iconic name in the fitness industry and this acquisition accelerates our strategic plan as we continue to upgrade our club network and offer more value to our members," said Patrick Walsh, Town Sports chair and CEO.

"The Flywheel acquisition fits perfectly into our strategy, as it enables us to elevate our members’ fitness experience by offering a luxury, boutique product, along with the benefits of additional formats and locations.

“Through this acquisition, we plan to enhance the gym experience, similar to the industry’s aggregators, and offer more variety in content, locations and experience for a lower cost.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

Darren Richman, co-founder of Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Flywheel’s current owner, added: “As in the case of providers like Netflix, who reimagined the importance of content, and the need to provide customers with more for less, we think that Patrick is following the exact same path at Town Sports in the fitness space.

"He is facilitating the delivery of more fitness modalities and content for value-conscious consumers.”