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The sale of The Canyons Resort to Talisker Corp. is complete.
American Skiing Co., which owned The Canyons and seven other ski resorts before selling all in a 2006-07 spree, said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Talisker Canyons Finance Co. LLC completed the purchase Monday.
Originally announced as a $100 million deal, the acquisition ultimately totaled $123 million. According to the SEC document, Talisker paid $52.1 million in cash and another $71 million in senior secured notes. Those notes, which accrue interest at a 15 percent annual rate, mature on March 20, 2010, or at an earlier date - if The Canyons is sold again.
"We look forward to unlocking the wonderful potential of The Canyons resort," said Talisker Chairman Jack Bistricer. "We expect to bring our brand and standard of development to this wonderful resort over the coming years."
Although Talisker is based in Toronto, is has operated in the Park City area since 2000, expanding its presence significantly in 2003 with the acquisition of United Park City Mines. Since then, the company has created the private Talisker Club for members who buy into one of three multimillion-dollar communities around Deer Valley - Empire Pass, Tuhaye and Red Cloud.
With the sale completed, American Skiing executives raised more than $600 million in dismantling Les Otten's one-time ski resort empire. The funds were used to pay investors, including the majority shareholder, Oak Hill Capital Partners, a Connecticut-based, private-equity firm.
The deal's closure was welcomed Tuesday by Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty.
"It will provide some long overdue stability. Talisker will be fantastic. They've always done great work in Park City." The sale has been disputed since it was first announced July 15, 2007. Until a few days before that, Colorado-based Vail Resorts thought it had the inside track to buy The Canyons. But Talisker came up with an offer American Skiing officials accepted.
That prompted Vail to file a lawsuit, maintaining it would lose an "unparalleled opportunity" to make billions of dollars in real estate development if the sale to Talisker were not overturned. Vail's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the sale was denied in October, but the litigation continues.
Vail had no comment on the sale announcement, spokeswoman Kelly Ladyga said Tuesday.