“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 motion 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, Chief Financial Officer of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc.
The bidding for Jay Peak Resort in Vermont has begun. Ski Area Management reports that Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. (PGRI) has filed a motion for approval to enter into a $58 million Asset Purchase Agreement to buy Jay Peak Resort. A federal judge will have ten days to accept or deny this motion. If this is approved, this would be the initial bid for the Vermont ski resort, with other interested parties being able to make bids in a thirty-day auction period. Even if PGRI wins the auction, an extensive contract process would follow. The key takeaway from the situation is this: Pacific Group Resorts is the current front runner to buy Jay, but it’s far from a done deal.
Jay Peak is in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and is known for being the powder capital of the Northeast. Jay Peak was owned by Ariel Quiros and was part of the EB-5 program until major fraud was discovered in 2016, leading to arrests and convictions, and ownership of the ski resort went into federal receivership.
Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. owns and operates multiple ski resorts across North America. These mountains include Ragged Mountain Resort in New Hampshire, Wisp Resort in Maryland, Wintergreen in Virginia, Powderhorn in Colorado, and Mount Washington Alpine Resort in British Columbia.
After this announcement, multiple members of the Pacific Group Resorts management team have released statements. Mark Fischer, the PGRI Chief Financial Officer, described the next steps:
“When a charity auctions off skis, the auctioneer asks who has $500 to start the bidding—that first bid is all we’ve done. Our bid hasn’t even been approved yet.”
Christian Knapp, the Chief Marketing Officer of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc., gave the following statement on Twitter:
The possibility of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. purchasing @jaypeakresort is extremely exciting and would be an incredible fit for our company, but by no means is it a done deal. Filing the APA is one more step in an extraordinarily long process that started more than 3 years ago.
— Christian Knapp (@christianknapp) August 1, 2022
Will Pacific Group Resorts be the new owner of Jay Peak? It’s currently unclear, but as Anakin Skywalker once said: “This is where the fun begins.”
Image Credits: Jay Peak Resort
