Sunny Health & Fitness Acquires UK Brand JLL Fitness

American fitness equipment seller Sunny Health & Fitness announced on 9 May 2025 that it had acquired JLL Fitness, a Birmingham-based brand that has supplied treadmills, exercise bikes and strength training kit to UK homes and commercial gyms for more than 13 years. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal, structured as a cross-border acquisition and advised on the legal side by law firm Brown Rudnick, marks one of the more significant moves in the UK home fitness market in recent years — and its effects are already visible to anyone browsing JLL's website today.

Who are the two companies?

Sunny Health & Fitness is a City of Industry, California-based business with over 20 years in the fitness equipment sector. The company positions itself around affordable, high-quality equipment and has in recent years pushed heavily into connected fitness through its SunnyFit app, which pairs with smart machines to provide guided workouts, progress tracking and immersive global routes.

JLL Fitness Limited — registered at Gravelly Industrial Park, Birmingham, and incorporated in June 2012 — built its reputation on the premise that home gym buyers shouldn't have to choose between gym-quality build standards and sensible price points. According to the company, it achieves this by importing directly from top-tier manufacturing partners, keeping its supply chain lean. It sells online and through a showroom in Birmingham.

What the deal involves

Brown Rudnick represented Sunny Health & Fitness in the transaction, with Orange County partner Cathrine Castaldi leading the client relationship. The cross-border team included London associate Stephen Wallace alongside partners Tracy Fisher, David Knight, Peter Farrell, Nicole Bouchard and Tom Braiden, counsel Kevin Fidler, and trainee solicitor Katrina Hart.

Sunny's chief executive, John Sun, said the rationale was straightforward. Speaking to Athletech News, he stated:

"By combining the strengths of Sunny and JLL, we are poised to enhance our product offerings, expand our international reach and deliver even greater value to our customers."

Sunny's own retrospective on the deal describes it as a "strategic move to strengthen its position and accelerate growth," characterising JLL as "a respected brand with a loyal customer base and strong market presence," according to the company's materials.

Integration is already under way

For UK shoppers, the most tangible early sign of the merger is product-level: the SunnyFit SF-T723030 smart treadmill — featuring auto-incline, a quiet motor and a pre-assembled folding deck — is already listed on JLL's website. That places Sunny's connected hardware directly in front of JLL's established British customer base without requiring buyers to engage with an unfamiliar US retailer.

JLL's website also actively promotes the SunnyFit ecosystem, telling visitors: "Combine your smart machine with the SunnyFit app to level up your home workouts." The app gives users access to thousands of on-demand guided workouts and lets them track progress from home — a proposition that mirrors the connected fitness model that brands such as Peloton popularised, but at a more accessible price tier.

Shortly before the acquisition was announced, Sunny had already added Wi-Fi-enabled treadmills to its range, integrating with the SunnyFit app and capable of connecting to televisions for a more immersive experience, according to the company.

JLL's product range remains broad

JLL's lineup covers a wide spread of cardio and strength equipment. On the cardio side, this includes:

• Treadmills — from compact foldable models and walking pads through to powerful auto-incline running machines
• Exercise bikes — upright bikes for everyday training, indoor cycling bikes for spin-style sessions, and recumbent bikes for added support
• Rowing machines and ellipticals

Beyond cardio, JLL also stocks strength and functional fitness equipment including resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells and weight benches. Both the Birmingham showroom and the jllfitness.co.uk online store remain active. JLL offers free delivery on select items within mainland UK, with estimated delivery of three to ten working days.

A broader market in consolidation

The acquisition fits a clear pattern. The home fitness sector has been consolidating, with larger operators absorbing established brands that built loyal followings during the boom years of home training. Around the same period as the JLL deal, Johnson Health Tech acquired BowFlex assets for $37.5 million at a bankruptcy auction — another sign that well-known fitness names are changing hands as the market matures.

Sunny's move is arguably more straightforward than a distressed acquisition: JLL is described as active and operationally sound, and Sunny has made clear it intends to keep both brands running. With demand for home fitness continuing to grow in the UK, the timing, in Sunny's view, was considered ideal to expand its connected fitness experience to a broader British audience.

What remains unconfirmed at this stage includes any changes to pricing, and whether the acquisition has altered either brand's retail arrangements with national partners. The purchase price has not been disclosed.