Peak Resorts purchases Attitash

The American Skiing Company announced it has reached a "definitive agreement" to sell Attitash based in Bartlett as well as Mount Snow ski resort in Vermont for $73.5 million to Peak Resorts Inc., a resort operator based in St. Louis, Mo. The deal is expected to be complete sometime in April. "We've worked very hard to ensure that the full potential and value of each of our resorts is realized," said ASC President and CEO B.J. Fair in a press release issued by ASC from its offices in Park City, Utah. "Under the existing circumstances and market conditions, this means contemplating the sale of certain of our resort assets, as we've planned with Steamboat (sold to Canadian resort operator Intrawest Corp. for $265 million in December) and now Mount Snow and Attitash."The tremendous interest we have experienced in the resorts is a tribute to the hard work and professionalism of our management teams," he continued. "After much deliberation and many discussions with our board of directors, we feel that the best course of action for our stakeholders will be to sell these resorts under the terms proposed in the definitive agreements. This was obviously a very difficult decision, given the progress we've made at our resorts and as a company."Peak Resorts, founded in 1997, currently owns nine ski resorts in Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire Crotched Mountain in Bennington. Tim Boyd, president of Peak Resorts, which specializes in managing small ski resorts, could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.In an interview from December 2004 with the Washington Post, Boyd said his company has expanded from three such properties in 1997 to seven, including holdings in Missouri, New Hampshire and Ohio. The cost of making snow has declined and the efficiency has gone up, he said, which means lower-altitude hills that don't get as much natural snow are not as dependent upon weather as they once were."And we actually have an advantage over some of the bigger places," Boyd said. "When the economy goes bad and people still want to ski, our business tends to improve."Dave Hirasawa, of Investor and Media Communications for American Skiing Company, said Attitash really wasn't on the market, but the sale of Steamboat in December generated a great deal of interest in ASC properties."A number of people expressed interest and ultimately Peak Resort submitted a very favorable offer," he said.Employees at Attitash are being asked not to comment on the sale of the Bartlett-based resort until the deal is finalized in April."After receiving nearly two feet of snow this week the employees are concentrating on running a resort," Hirasawa said.ASC has owned Attitash since 1996."It's been quite a long and good relationship," Hirasawa said. "You establish a number of good professional contacts over the years so it's always sad to say goodbye."Included in the sale of Attitash and Mount Snow are the commercial cores of the Grand Summit Hotels located at both resorts. The total cash purchase price of $73.5 million for both resorts is subject to working capital and seasonal earnings adjustments. In addition, the buyer will assume approximately $2 million in debt and other liabilities, according to Fair. Attitash, which received 19 inches of snow Wednesday, offers 70 trails and glades (33 percent most difficult, 47 percent more difficult, and 20 percent easiest) on 280 total skiable acres (22 miles of trails). The resort has 12 chairlifts: three quads, two high speed detachable, three triples, three doubles and three surface lifts (including the Magic Carpet /Snobelt Conveyor Lift). The resort also offers mountain biking, a water park, alpine slide and various other summer amenities. Mount Snow was the fifth most visited resort in the eastern U.S. in 2006, and is noted for being the closest major Vermont resort to the New York City metropolitan area. Summer attractions include an 18-hole championship golf course and mountain biking. As a condition of the purchase and sale agreement, according to Friday's press release, stockholder approval is required for the sales of the Attitash and Mount Snow resorts."The sole holder of the company's Preferred Stock Series C-1, representing 65.8 percent of the voting shares entitled to vote on the matter, has voted in favor of the transaction, which constitutes majority stockholder approval," the press release states. "Such approval means the transaction may be approved without a meeting of the company's stockholders. The company anticipates distributing an information statement to stockholders regarding the majority stockholder approval as soon as practicable. The stockholder approval will not be effective until twenty days have elapsed following mailing of the information statement to stockholders. In addition to stockholder approval, the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust approval and consent of the U.S. Forest Service."The sale is expected to close on or before April 30, 2007."The company expects to use the net proceeds from the sale to reduce existing debt and, to the extent any proceeds remain available thereafter, for working capital purposes or as otherwise determined by the board of directors of the Company," the release states.American Skiing Company is one of the largest operators of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States. Its resorts include Killington, Pico and Mount Snow in Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA in Maine; Attitash in New Hampshire; Steamboat in Colorado; and The Canyons in Utah.