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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/751527
ALANA PATERSON DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017 BCBUSINESS 45 in the 1950s, when Second World War vet Pete Seibert and rancher Earl Eaton hatched resort plans for Vail Mountain. Over the following six decades, Vail grew into a North American resort empire— with the odd hiccup, including a 1985 bankruptcy. Apollo Management took the company public in 1997, and Apollo executive Rob Katz stayed on to lead Vail Resort's growth. Today Vail's holdings include the ‰agship Colorado property, along with Breckenridge and Keystone, three resorts in California's Lake Tahoe region, former Winter Olympic host resort Park City Mountain Resort in Utah and lesser-known properties in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. In 2015 Vail bought Perisher Ski Resort, Australia's largest resort. Meanwhile, north of the border, four businessmen led by Norwegian immi- grant Franz Wilhelmsen launched the Garibaldi Lift Company in the early 1960s and in 1965 opened Whistler Mountain. For much of its history, Whistler would compete —iercely with neighbouring Blackcomb Mountain (largely supported with taxpayer dollars), but in 1986, real estate developer Intrawest bought Blackcomb, scooping up Whistler in 1997 and merging the two operations six years later. Ownership of the now-megaresort changed hands again in 2006 when New York-based Fortress Investment Group bought Intrawest, but just three weeks before the 2010 Winter Games open- ing ceremonies, Fortress failed to make payments on loans, forcing Intrawest to divest its holdings. Canada's premier resort—75 per cent owned by the publicly traded Whistler Blackcomb Holdings— was ripe for the pickings when Vail came knocking earlier this year. Whistler Blackcomb represents the 13th resort in the Vail empire and now makes it the largest ski resort owner in North America. Management on both sides of the deal (which was expected to close this fall after it received share- holder approval and sign-off from Investment Canada) are calling it a win- win for everybody involved. "Vail and Whistler Blackcomb have had some great seasons and strong stock performance. When both companies are performing well, they come at this deal from positions of strength," says Vail's Katz. "Obviously we've watched Whistler for many years. It's an iconic resort." Whistler Blackcomb president and CEO Dave Brownlie, who has vowed to stay on post-takeover, says that hav- ing Vail as owner brings "increased geographic diversity, £nancial strength and a powerful season pass program to the partnership, which will help secure Whistler Blackcomb's long-term success." Despite challeng ing conditions throughout the industry, both partners are experiencing impressive numbers of late. Last season Vail Resorts Inc. clocked 11.1 per cent and 19.4 per cent increases in visitation and lift revenue, respectively, while Whistler Blackcomb saw 2.16 mil- lion visitors, up 22 per cent from the same period last year (corporate revenues were $278.8 million for the £rst nine months of 2016, up 22.9 per cent year-over-year). Whistler Blackcomb spokesperson Lauren Everest credits increased market- ing, $54 million in capital improvements over the past four years and a strong snow year for the increase. While the low Canadian dollar was not a key factor in Vail's decision to enter the Canadian market, according to Katz, the CEO does view the purchase as a hedge against future currency ‰uctua- tions, allowing Vail to bene£t both when the Canadian dollar is low—and Cana- dians ski at home and Americans are travelling north—and vice versa, when the loonie is high and Canadians head south to ski. Katz also hopes the deal will enable Vail and Whistler to make inroads into each other's foreign skier markets: Whistler's expertise with the Asian mar- ket and Vail's strong Latin American focus, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. As for what changes locals and visitors can expect from the new owners, Katz says Vail's in‰uence will be more behind the scenes—mostly in the form of £nan- cial and strategic resources. Critically, Vail has pledged support for Whistler's planned $345-million Renaissance: a UPS AND DOWNS Peter Smart, founder of ski instruction company Extremely Canadian, hopes to see a renewed focus on customer service under Whistler's new owners