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£56m bid is fit for Holmes

Jason Niss
Sunday 06 April 2003 00:00 BST
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The troubled stock market life of fitness clubs owner Holmes Place could be coming to an end. Bridgepoint Capital, the private equity group which has been having on-off talks with the management about making a bid, is expected to unveil an agreed £56m offer in the next few days.

Bridgepoint backed Allan Fisher, the group's founder and chief executive, when he was building up the chain, which floated in 1997.

After the company's shares fell from a high of 372p in 1999, Bridgepoint made a 175p-per- share offer last summer, only to be trumped by a 200p bid from rival Cannons, which valued Holmes at £202m.

However, a profit warning from Holmes led Cannons to withdraw. Bridgepoint has been in exclusive negotiations since January.

Sources close to the talks say an agreed bid, expected to be at 55p per share, will be submitted "before Easter". Holmes shares closed on Friday at 42.5p.

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