Yesterday, Aspen Skiing Company, along with private equity firm KSL Capital Partners, announced the acquisition of Intrawest (NYSE: SNOW), owner of Steamboat Resort for $1.5 billion from Fortress. Read the full press release here.

Colorado Group Realty is following this news closely to help you understand what this means for Steamboat real estate, our community and you.

Here’s some added information about the acquisition:

What is the deal?

Aspen Skiing Co., in partnership with KSL, paid $1.5B for Fortresses stake in Intrawest. The deal is expected to officially close end of Q3 2017. Intrawest stock price has spiked over the last few months with rumors of some deal happening. This deal makes sense on many levels:

• While Fortress has been an able owner of Intrawest, there has not been the needed focus on real estate development, mountain improvements, global marketing and other areas compared to other world-class resorts.
• Aspen Ski Co. has been looking for ways to compete with the ever growing empire of Vail Resorts. This gives Aspen 10 resorts compared to Vail’s 11 resorts.
• This isn’t the first time KSL & Aspen have worked together. Along with KSL-owned East West Partners, Aspen recently acquired property at the base of Snowmass and is now completing a big re-development project. KSL specializes in this industry and also real estate development.

What’s Next?

Read some thoughts from the Denver Post here

Click for more information from the Aspen Times here

Check out the article from the Steamboat Pilot here

Other Perspectives:

• An employee at Intrawest’s Denver office told us, “This is great news! We’re all looking forward to finally being able to make some growth investments. This will allow us to actually compete with Vail.”
• An owner at a leading Aspen real estate firm said, “We are all thrilled. This may not be good for Aspen real estate right now, however there are so many people who are priced out of the Aspen market, who will now have an introduction to Steamboat. Imagine the people who want to buy a $1-3M second home but can’t do that here…will those people go visit Steamboat now?”
• Steve Goldman, CEO at Colorado Group Realty said, “On the surface, this is the perfect match. Time will tell as a new strategic plan is created and implemented but we would expect significant investments in real estate development, on-mountain improvements, global marketing and more over the coming years. We ultimately believe that this will create increased homeowner value as more people look to visit and buy in Steamboat.”

Who are the players involved?

• Intrawest – Denver-based, publicly traded company that owns six resorts including Steamboat Resort, Mont Tremblant, Stratton and operates Winter Park.
• Fortress – New York private equity firm with $70B of assets under management that owned Intrawest since 2006. Fortress was recently acquired by Softbank of Japan, one of the world’s largest private equity firms with a focus on telecom and technology. Prior to Softbank’s purchase of Fortress, there were rumors Fortress was looking to sell Intrawest. Once Softbank officially acquired Fortress, it seemed obvious Intrawest was not like the vast majority of tech companies owned by Softbank.
• KSL Partners – Another private equity company, based in Denver, KSL focuses on investments/companies in the travel and leisure business. They currently own Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows (which may be put under the Intrawest umbrella), East West Partners (a Denver & Vail real estate developer) and many other hotels, resorts and golf courses.
• Aspen Ski Co. – Owner of the four Aspen area resorts, Aspen Ski Co. is owned by the Crown Family, a multi-billionaire family with a long business track record including owning a large stake in General Dynamics, JP Morgan Chase and minority stakes in the NY Yankees and Chicago Bulls.