The Crunch gym chain may be headed for the auction block.

Full story at :http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/09/15/crunch-gym-chain-works-out-strategic-options/

The Crunch gym chain may be headed for the auction block.

The fitness chain’s owners have hired investment bank William Blair & Co. to weigh strategic alternatives that could include a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.  Should the closely held company seek an investor or buyer, it isn’t expected to do so until early 2015, one of the people said.

Crunch, which is owned by investment firms New Evolution Ventures and Angelo, Gordon & Co., has around $20 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciationand amortization, the people said. Given typical multiples paid by buyers of gym chains, Crunch could sell for more than $200 million.

Crunch started in New York City’s East Village neighborhood in 1989, according to its website. The scrappy, low-price chain, which had no locker rooms or air conditioning in its infancy, has since grown to over 200,000 members in the U.S. and Australia, the site says.

The chain specializes in creating group-fitness classes such as hip-hop aerobics and co-ed wrestling. Under its current ownership, the fitness chain has opened many new locations. The firms bought Crunch in 2008 for an undisclosed sum.

There has been a wave of consolidation in the fitness industry as Americans become more focused on healthy living.  Crunch’s largest rival, 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Inc., was recently sold to AEA Investors LP, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Fitness Capital. Tracy Anderson, the celebrity fitness guru, is also trying to woo investors in her Tracy Anderson Mind & Body LLC. In 2011, Equinox Holdings Inc. bought popular spin class chain SoulCycle.

Fitness food companies have also benefited from the craze. In August, Hormel Foods Corp.HRL +1.30% purchased Muscle Milk maker CytoSport Holdings for around $450 million and last week, Irish dairy products group Glanbia agreed to buy Isopure, a U.S. maker of protein shakes, for $153 million.