Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer

Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer

The purchase price was not disclosed. The ski area has been closed since 2015.

From the Portland Press Herald

An investment firm from Boston has made an offer to buy Saddleback Mountain, stating that they’ll invest between $25 million to $30 million after the sale to help restart the Rageley ski resort, now closed for four years.

Saddleback ski area
Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer.

The property is owned by the Berry family. The details of what Arctaris Impact Fund is offering to the Berry family has been disclosed in an email to the owners of Saddleback condos. The email was sent by Andy Shepard, CEO of the Outdoors Sports Institute and Tom Federle, a Portland attorney who have been working with Arctaris trying to purchase the ski area.

Saddleback was Maine’s third largest ski resort offering lots of local jobs and drawing thousands of tourists each winter while it was opened.

Shepard would not confirm the terms and conditions of the purchase – only that the $500 million investment group wants to buy the ski mountain and can afford it. The purchase price was not disclosed.

“Tom Federle and I have been quietly trying to find a buyer for the mountain for the last four years and connected with Arctaris last fall. We have been very impressed with their commitment and capacity to not only buy the mountain but doing so with a long-term view to make the mountain successful,” said Shepard, the former CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center, in an email Friday. “Arctaris is the real deal and I’m hopeful for the Berry family and for the people of western Maine that we can get a deal done.”

Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer.
Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer.

Federle owns a condo in Saddleback. Shepard said his interest in the deal is in “preserving one of Maine’s most remarkable ski mountains and the role it plays in the economy of the region, an interest shared by Tom.”

Saddleback, owned by Irene and Bill Berry of Farmington, has been on the market since July 2015. The ski mountain – one of the largest in Maine with an elevation of 4,120 feet – has not been open since the 2014-2015 season.

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Jay Peak is officially for sale.

Jay Peak is officially for sale – will it be able to get the $250M to pay back investors?

Jay Peak is officially for sale – will it be able to get the $250M to pay back investors?

News from Burlington Free Press and WCAX

After years of turmoil due to one of the biggest frauds to ever have hit the federal EB-5 program, Jay Peak Resort is now for sale.

Ariel Quiros, former owner of the resort and his partner Bill Stenger, allegedly as per the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission misused $200 million in foreign investor funds, with Quiros pocketing personally some $50 million.

The investors have put down $500,000 each in order to receive a green card for themselves and their families. The Miami-based federal receiver Michael Goldberg said that of the 540 investors in Jay Peak, only six have received conditional residency and moved to the United States. About 160 are waiting for their permanent residencies to be approved.

Investors have not received their money back but will they? The answer depends on whether Jay Peak could be sold for $250 million.

Michael Goldberg pointed out that investors from China and other Asian countries, Latin America and Europe were never guaranteed their money back, but the 35 investors in Jay Peak’s Tram Haus Lodge have been repaid in full.

Goldberg said “This was not a loan, it was an investment, and it’s quite possible that these individuals made a bad investment. Basically, the resort will be worth what it’s worth. The fact is, even if there was no fraud, they may not have gotten their whole money back.”

New York’s investment banker Jeffrey Altman of Houlihan Lokey was hired by Goldberg to help sell Jay Peak. Altmann declined to comment the price in which he things the resort can be sold. He was involved in the recent sale of Stowe to Vail Resorts, advising the seller which was the insurance giant AIG.

Mike Krongel of Mirus Resort Advisors, located in Burlington, Massachusetts, explained that a ski resort’s value is estimated as some multiple of its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation).

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