It will also help Whistler draw more tourists with Vail’s season pass, which allows pass-holders ski at Vail’s resorts in the United States and Australia.
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The $36 per share cash-and-stock offer represents a premium of about 43 per cent to Whistler Blackcomb’s Friday close. It plans to continue with the Canadian company’s planned Renaissance strategic plan, which includes an indoor water park and upgrades to lifts, snow-making and terrain, as well as two real estate development projects.
Vail has a history of expansion, having acquired Park City, Utah, last year.
Another aspect of the transaction Brownlie recognized is the wellbeing of First Nation communities near Whistler Blackcomb.
The deal, which is expected to close during the fall, received popular voting support among shareholders but still needs to receive customary closing approval from shareholders and regulators.
Vail Resorts now owns the two largest ski areas in North America.
As part of the agreement, Whistler Blackcomb will nominate one member of its board to the Vail Resorts board of directors. Vail will also assume or refinance about $90 million in debt from Whistler’s 75% ownership share in the partnerships that operate Whistler Blackcomb.
March 1997 – Whistler Mountain Ski Corp., the owner of Whistler, and Blackcomb owner Intrawest Corp. merge. It has since grown to become one of the premier ski destinations in North America, serving as a host site for the Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
“It’s about that pre-commitment that will strengthen the revenue and, ultimately, filling in the early-season and mid-week periods where we really see the benefit”, said Brownlie, who will remain in his same position with the purchase.
In an interview in May 2016, the CEO of Vail Resorts, Rob Katz, stated that the company was on the hunt for new investment opportunities. In 2003, Whistler was purchased by neighboring resort Blackcomb Mountain after years of rivalry, and is now the number one ranked and most visited resort in North America according to Brownlie. Vail Resorts, too, is booming, with record revenues pushing past $1.4 billion and a soaring stock price that climbed more than $9 a share to an all-time high of $155.46 on Monday.
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Greenhill & Co. served as financial adviser to Whistler Blackcomb while Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP were its legal advisers.
