The owner of New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts is seeking fresh equity capital to stave off a cash crunch less than two months after buying the gym chains out of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The investor-backed acquisition vehicle that bought the fitness chains is soliciting investors for a $2 million equity raise to improve liquidity and fund working capital needs, giving a Wednesday deadline for potential participants to indicate interest. The chains were sold out of bankruptcy in November to Peak Credit LLC, an affiliate of New York-based investment banking firm Lepercq de Neuflize & Co., as well as a number of lenders to the chains’ former owner, Town Sports International LLC. Following Town Sports’ September bankruptcy filing, private-equity firm Tacit Capital LLC had proposed serving as the stalking-horse bidder to acquire the company’s assets. Tacit backed out when it failed to come up with the $47.5 million it had pledged to post to fund operations once the bankruptcy sale closed, according to court records. Peak stepped in for Tacit with a $5 million funding commitment to capitalize an acquisition vehicle called New TSI Holdings Inc. that would own and operate the chains, according to court documents.
