Public | |
Traded as | : SNOW |
Founded | 1976 |
Headquarters | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
Key people
|
Tom Marano, CEO |
Number of employees
|
13,900 |
Website | www.intrawest.com |
Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc is a developer and operator of destination resorts and a luxury adventure travel company. The company was founded in 1976 as a privately funded real estate development company. In 2006, Intrawest was purchased by Fortress Investment Group, a private equity investment company, which resulted in the company being delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. Fortress was under financial pressure related to the Intrawest debt, but a new loan with a single lender was completed in April 2010 and all prior lenders were repaid in full.
In recent years Intrawest has strengthened its cash flows, despite 2012 proving to be a challenging year for the American ski industry with warmer than normal temperatures and snowfall at 50% of historical averages. Western Canada experienced above average and record snowfall amounts in some areas.
In 1986, Intrawest acquired Blackcomb Mountain from the Federal Business Development Bank, a Canadian Crown Corporation, and Fortress Mountain of Alberta (no relation to Fortress Investments LLC), a wholly owned division of Aspen Skiing Company. The company later went public, listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges and, in 1996, merged with Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation to form Whistler-Blackcomb resort, a venue of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. Intrawest eventually spun off Whistler-Blackcomb and sold the last of its shares in that company in 2012.
Today, the Intrawest network includes mountain resorts. Intrawest also operates Club Intrawest, a private resort club with nine locations in North America. The company is the largest developer and operator of resort properties in North America offering skiing, snowboarding, golf, mountain biking, lodging, and real estate opportunities at each of its resorts. Intrawest develops real estate at its resorts and at other locations across North America. The company owns Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world.