KemperSports and LinksCorp Holdings (“LinksCorp”) reached an agreement whereby KemperSports will assume management of LinksCorp’s 14 properties, the companies have jointly announced. Several of LinksCorp’s executives and staff, including LinksCorp President Ben Blake, will join KemperSports’ senior management team.
LinksCorp will continue as a holding company, with its properties under contract to KemperSports for marketing and management. KemperSports will assist LinksCorp Holdings in the evaluation and disposition of certain properties in the LinksCorp portfolio.
LinksCorp’s portfolio of private clubs and daily-fee courses is primarily based in the southeastern United States, where KemperSports has been growing over the past several years.
“We are delighted to welcome Ben and the LinksCorp staff to our family of ‘best in class’ properties,” said KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner. “We expect to collaborate to maximize the results of the remaining LinksCorp portfolio and to incorporate the LinksCorp team’s combined decades of operating experience to benefit our portfolio, particularly in the Southeast,” he said.
Ben Blake, who had a successful career at KemperSports before founding LinksCorp in 1991, will be named an executive vice president of KemperSports. “This combination will serve to strengthen the management of our LinksCorp properties and staff,” said Blake. “On a personal level, I am excited to be rejoining KemperSports and look forward to becoming a member of its very experienced management team to build on the company’s long history of success.”
Skinner said the transaction would broaden KemperSports’ footprint with the company now operating in 27 states, Puerto Rico and Latin America.