Bankers said Wednesday they will move to auction off Intrawest Holdings unless the ski resort operator can find a way to settle its debts.

 

The surprise move includes the Whistler ski resort – which will be home to the Olympic downhill races next month.

Vancouver-based Intrawest says it will be “business as usual.” And Olympic organizers say they’re confident “things will proceed as planned.”

Interesting timing. New York lenders are giving notice that the foreclosure process is beginning just as the majority owner of Whistler Blackcomb is preparing to host Olympic skiers next month. Some have noted that the free advertising for sellers couldn’t be better.

Chronology: Intrawest and its holdings

1976

Intrawest began as a residential and urban real-estate firm.

Mid-1980s

Company combined its real estate and mountain operations expertise to form a “village-centred” offering.

October, 2006

Fortress Investment Group LLC buys Intrawest in a transaction valued roughly $2.8-billion – just before the economic downturn hit and sales of lift passes and resort condominiums slowed. Intrawest becomes a portfolio company controlled primarily by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Fortress.

October 2008

Debt balloons. A group of lenders led by Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner work with Fortress to restructure the senior debt due to the recent maturity. The debt was initially restructured in October 2008 and extended for a year through October of last year.

Oct. 23, 2009

Though the restructure also provided for a six-month extension subject to the debt being reduced to a certain level, Intrawest wasn’t able to reduce its debt. So the conditions to the extension expired. Loan matures. Lenders agree to give Intrawest another 60-day extension to give the company time to work on a financing of one of its resort assets – so that would generate cash to be used to repay the debt. But the company wasn’t able to close the financing.

Dec. 24, 2009

Debt is in default and declared due. “Given the lack of progress on restructuring talks, the lenders determined there was no alternative to exercising their remedies as secured creditors.”

Jan. 8, 2010

Lenders give Intrawest notice that they are commencing the foreclosure of the lenders’ lien on the equity of the company.

Jan. 19, 2010

Public notice of the auction was published in the Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

Feb. 19, 2010

An auction of this equity is scheduled for next month — splat in the middle of the Olympic Games. An Intrawest bankruptcy filing is another possibility.

Tags: commercial real estate, commercial real estate news, investment real estate

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