The private-equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital have decided to buy Life Time Fitness in a transaction valued at more than $4 billion. It will be one of the biggest buyouts of the year.

According to a prepared statement, the investor group including LNK Partners and Life Time's chief executive officer, Bahram Akradi, will pay $72.10 a share in cash for the Minnesota-based company.

The price has reflected a 73% premium to the closing price on August 22, before Life Time said that it was considering its strategic options.

The firms took almost seven months to contemplate the different scenarios regarding the deal. In August, Life Time Fitness, operator of around 114 fitness centers in the US and Canada, said that it is likely to get converted into a real estate investment trust after posting second-quarter profit that trailed analysts' estimates and cut its sales forecast.

The company, after Marcato Capital Management has amassed a more than 7% stake and has also adopted shareholder-rights could try to stop anyone from owning more than 9.8% of its stock.

A person who had the knowledge of the situation, said in May, that Marcato, run by Mick McGuire, has advised Life Time Fitness to think about the options for its real estate, including potentially using its properties as collateral in order to speed up existing expansion plans.

As per the data compiled by Bloomberg News, Marcato is Life Time's biggest outside shareholder with 8% stake. It was formed in 2010 with startup capital from Blackstone Group after McGuire worked at Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management.

The companies are expecting that the Monday's transaction will be completed in the third quarter and the deal would become the year's biggest leveraged buyout that takes a company private.

Fort Worth-based TPG is one of the main US buyout firms, overseeing $67 billion in assets.