January 20, 2010, 03:33 PM EST From Businessweek
By Cristina Alesci
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Creditors of Intrawest ULC, a ski- resort operator owned by Fortress Investment Group LLC, plan to auction off equity in a unit that controls properties including a venue for next month’s Olympics, according to a public notice.
The Feb. 19 auction by the lender-appointed trustee, Wilmington Trust FSB, follows Intrawest’s failure in December to make the final payment on a $1.4 billion loan used by Fortress to finance its leveraged buyout of the Vancouver-based company. The notice was published yesterday in newspapers including the Wall Street Journal.
Buyers will get indirect ownership of property and stakes in resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb in Whistler, British Columbia, an Alpine skiing site for the 2010 Winter Games, which begin Feb. 12. Other properties include Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Stratton in Vermont and Squaw Valley in California, according to the notice.
Lilly Donohue, a spokeswoman for New York-based Fortress, didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. William Benintende, a spokesman for Wilmington, Delaware-based Wilmington Trust, declined to comment.
--Editors: Larry Edelman, Kara Wetzel
To contact the reporter on this story: Cristina Alesci in New York at +1-212-617-2000 or calesci2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story Christian Baumgaertel at +1-617-210-4624 or cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
