Vail Resorts, which owns ski destinations in Colorado, is buying Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb Holding, North America’s biggest and busiest ski resort, in a cash and stock deal valued at about $C1.4 billion ($1.41 billion).
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Whistler Blackcomb shareholders are being offered $676 million (CDN) of cash and Vail stock worth about $715 million (CDN).
Whistler chief executive officer Dave Brownlie said the deal, worth about $1.39-billion, would boost the Canadian company’s financial heft and marketing, among other things.
Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. In New York, Vail Resorts stock was also trading at the highest in at least a decade, trading at about US$150 shortly after the open.
Whistler Blackcomb will continue to honor their season pass products (including the Mountain Collective Pass) for the 2016-2017 season, with plans to integrate into the Epic Season Pass for the 2017-2018 season.
The Whistler purchase is Vail’s second expansion deal of 2016.
Wilhelm-Morden predicts Whistler will attract even more visitors as Vail Resorts passes can be used any of its resorts worldwide.
Vail said it will “invest substantially” in Whistler Blackcomb’s infrastructure and four-season activities.
Late in 2014, Vail Resorts purchased the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah for $182.5 million, and combined it with its neighboring property, The Canyons, to create the largest US ski resort, featuring 41 lifts and 7,300 acres of skiable terrain. (NYSE: MTN) (“Vail Resorts”) and Whistler Blackcomb Holdings, Inc.
According to Brownlie, overtures had been made between the two for some time but turned serious over the summer once Vail made an offer that forced Whistler’s board of directors to take a closer look.
Shares of Whistler Blackcomb jumped to a new all-time high when markets opened Monday, rising above C$36.37 per share in Toronto, up by $11.23.
Vail Resorts – which sells 500,000 season passes a year, more than any other resort operator in the world – now owns half of the 10 busiest ski areas on the continent, including the top three: Whistler Blackcomb, Vail and Breckenridge.
December 2008 – A gondola began operating to connect Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. It represented a 43 percent premium based on Whistler Blackcomb’s closing price on Friday.
The consolidation is part of a growing trend for both the winter-centric industry and Vail Resorts, in particular. The resort’s popularity, which grew following the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, helped push adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to a record in the fiscal second quarter, ended March 31.
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A press release about the transaction says that Vail Resorts “is committed to continuing Whistler Blackcomb’s success and building on its strengths, including further investment in the resort and the community”.
