Life Fitness to Acquire ICG - Indoor Cycling Group
Life Fitness has announced that Brunswick Corporation, Life Fitness’ parent company, has agreed to buy Germany’s Indoor Cycling Group, a key provider of indoor cycling equipment. The agreement has yet to receive final approval from Germany’s competition authority but the deal is expected to be approved.
Who Are Life Fitness?
Life Fitness began 40 years ago when they produced the first electronic piece of fitness equipment, the LifeCycle exercise bike. Now they offer over 400 different products used around the world in both commercial and home gyms.
The Life Fitness portfolio includes Mariner outboard engines, Life Fitness Hammer Strength and Cybex fitness equipment, to name just a few. The exercise bike development has continued with the introduction of the Lifecycle GX, biomechanically designed to create an amazing cycling workout. This bike has been built to last and boasts a bold rear flywheel design.
So what does the purchase of ICG mean for Life Fitness?
Life Fitness has had a relationship with ICG for the past 5 years as both companies work in the area of indoor cycling and clearly there has been mutual respect. As the Life Fitness President Chris Clawson has said, ‘Through this relationship we know that ICG’s culture of innovation and customer focused approach are a great fit for our team.’ So what Life Fitness get is the addition of a talented team known for innovative technology enabling Life Fitness to stay at the top of product development.
So what do we know about ICG?
They were founded in 1995 and are based in Nuremberg Germany. They are currently the leading supplier of indoor cycling bikes. The bikes themselves are known for their aesthetics, design features and technology. ICG just focuses on indoor cycling hence its expertise on this one market. The chief executive of ICG Bernd Puerschel outlines the benefits to ICG, ‘We’re eager to keep our efforts focused on further evolving our products and technologies which, when grouped with Life Fitness existing products, will create an unparalled group exercise portfolio’.
ICG will also benefit from the global distribution network that Life Fitness has which covers 120 countries.
