Industry News
Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. (PGRI) has entered into a $58 million asset purchase agreement (APA) to acquire Jay Peak Resort, VT, reports Ski Area Management. A judge has ten days to approve the sale after which other companies can still bid in excess of PGRI’s $58 million offer.
“All that has happened is the receiver has filed a motion with the judge, and we are now waiting for the judge to approve the bid before it moves to an auction process to determine the winning bidder. After the winning bid is accepted, there are a number of closing actions that would need to be completed.”
– Mark Fischer, PGRI chief financial officer
The resort has been under court-appointed receivership since 2016 when fraud charges were brought against co-owners Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger. The two men used the EB-5 Immigration Visa program to defraud foreign investors in the resort’s expansion in what was a “ponzi-like scheme”. Quiros pleaded guilty to money laundering and is currently serving a five year sentence. Stenger was also sentenced after pleading guilty.
“The time has come for the Receiver to sell the Jay Peak Resort. When the Receiver took over the Jay Peak Resort in April, 2016, it was on the verge of collapse having little money and making very little profit. In fact, the Receiver had many sleepless nights during the summer of 2016 wondering if he would be able to even make payroll. Now, after more than 6 years, the Jay Peak Resort is significantly more profitable and hundreds of jobs have been saved. The Receiver attributes this success to his top-notch management team and the dedicated employees who work tirelessly to make Jay Peak one of the greatest ski resorts in the country.”
– Michael Goldberg, court-appointed receiver
PGRI owns and operates five other North American ski areas: Ragged Mountain, NH, Wisp, MD, Wintergreen, VI, Powderhorn, CO, and Mount Washington Alpine, British Columbia.
Regarding other buyers, both Alterra and Vail Resorts checked out the ski resort back in 2019. Walter Elander, Jay Peak’s director of mountain planning and development talked about the sale progress, including visits by potential buyers, according to the minutes from a 2019 meeting.
“The first one is Alterra, they possibly have the funds, second is FoSun (privately owned), third is Pacific Group, fourth is two different groups Snow Operating and a fund called Oz, fifth is AWH (privately owned). He (Elander) stated Vail showed no interest in Jay Peak.”
– Walter Elander
Jay Peak has the largest average annual snowfall (359″) of any ski area east of the Rockies. It has 81 runs on 385 acres and is serviced by nine chairlifts.
