• The President of UOKiK has given conditional approval for the concentration.
• Medicover Group company may take over 16 businesses operating fitness clubs such as CityFit and CityFit Blue.
• However, the acquirer must sell two clubs: in Bielsko-Biała and Gliwice.

The intended transaction is expected to involve ABC Medicover Holdings B.V. acquiring control of 16 businesses in the CityFit Group. The activities of the participants in the concentration overlap in the market for operating fitness clubs. Medicover has more than 150 clubs under the brands: Just Gym, Well Fitness, McFit, Stellar, Platinium Fitness, Smart Gym, Premium Fitness & Gym. The CityFit Group owns more than 20 sports and leisure facilities under the CityFit and CityFit Blue brands.

According to previous case law, the President of UOKiK has assumed that fitness clubs compete with each other in the area of a single city. Medicover and CityFit have clubs in the same 13 cities. In most of them, however, they face competition from other entrepreneurs. The situation is different in Gliwice and Bielsko-Biała, where, after the deal, Medicover’s position would be strong enough to reduce competition.

– Our analysis shows that the concentration would distort competition in two cities. This would be disadvantageous to customers of fitness clubs in Bielsko-Biała and Gliwice, and could result in price increases, for example. At the same time, the sale of one of the gyms in each of these cities will allow entrepreneurs to maintain equal competition in local markets – says the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

Under the condition imposed, Medicover must sell one each of its own or the acquired company’s clubs in Bielsko-Biała and Gliwice. The buyer must be an entity independent of Medicover and provide a guarantee to operate a fitness club at this location in the next two years. It must also receive approval from the President of UOKiK.

According to the laws, a transaction is subject to notification to the antitrust authority if it involves undertakings whose aggregate turnover generated in the preceding year has exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland.

The decision is not final. The party notifying the Office has the right to appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. At the same time, please note that information on all concentration-related antitrust proceedings conducted by UOKiK is posted on the UOKiK website.