Intrawest Sold – What’s In It for Us?

Intrawest Corp., owner of Mammoth, Copper, Winter Park, Stratton, Mountain Creek, Snowshoe Mountain, Whistler, Blue Mountain, Ontario, Tremblant in Quebec, and Flaine Montsoleil, French Alps, has agreed to be acquired by Fortress Investment Group LLC, a private equity firm, for about $1.81 billion cash.

The sale is supposedly the biggest-ever buyout of a publicly traded resort operator at $35-per-share cash offer. This was a 32 percent premium over Intrawest's last closing price, and the announcement pushed Intrawest shares up $7.68, to $34.19. Obviously, a good deal for Intrawest shareholders – but what about us skiers?

Fortress Investment Group LLC, a private-equity firm, sees Intrawest's's diverse leisure properties as growth opportunities and will pursue new growth initiatives. Fortress has been around since 1998 and manages $23 billion in assets. Let’s hope for the best.