North Castle Adds to Its Canadian Club Holdings International Fitness Holdings, Inc. (IFH) which acquired the World Health Club chain in Canada last March, has expanded its fitness interests there. In July, it announced that it had purchased ClubFit, Inc, which operates five clubs in the city of Edmonton in Alberta. The move gives IFH a total of 19 facilities in the province's two largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary, with ten and nine units, respectively, serving some 65,000 members. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. IFH is a portfolio company of North Castle Partners LLC, a private-equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, that specializes in "healthy living and aging" investments. Among its other holdings is Octane Fitness, a fitness equipment manufacturer based in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. David Hardy, the president of ClubFit, will serve as a consultant to IFH and as member of its board of directors. The founder of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC), Hardy is also a member of IHRSA's board. "We're excited about the opportunity to acquire a strong operator like ClubFit," reports Doug Lehrman, the managing director of North Castle. "The acquisition represents an important step in achieving our long-term strategic vision of establishing IFH as the leading fitness club operator in Western Canada."