Intrawest ULC, the owner of British Columbia’s celebrated Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort as well as a popular resort in Mont Tremblant, has been put on the auction block less than a month before it is slated to host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The auction is scheduled for Feb. 19.
Creditors of Fortress Investment Group LLC, the New York-based private equity and hedge fund that owns Intrawest, forced the auction after Fortress failed to make the final payment on a $1.7-billion loan used by Fortress to buy Intrawest, according to Bloomberg News.
Notice of the auction was published by the lender-appointed trustee Tuesday in newspapers including the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to Whistler Blackcomb, where many of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic events are to take place, Intrawest owns two other ski resorts in Canada, and seven in the United States. Besides Whistler Blackcomb, its resort properties include Blue Mountain, Mountain Creek, Panorama Mountain Village, Sandestin Gold and Beach, Showshoe, Steamboat, Stratton, Mont Tremblant and Winter Park.
Fortress paid $2.8 billion, including the assumption of debt, for Intrawest in 2006.
