Prices for American Skiing Company (OTCBB: AESK) skyrocketed 50 percent yesterday after the company announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its subsidiary, ASC Utah Inc., to the owner of The Canyons Talisker Canyons Finance Co. LLC for $100 million in cash.According to the most recent statement from the American Skiing Company, the sale of ASC Utah to Talisker Canyons Finance – a subsidiary of the Talisker Corporation – is part of the “planned disposition” of the last major resort assets of American Skiing Company. Although the companies agreed on $100 million in cash, the transaction is subject to “various adjustments,” which were revealed only in the purchase agreements.
“This sale will complete a necessary step for American Skiing Company to wind down its affairs,” American Skiing Company President and CEO B.J. Fair said in the statement. “We at American Skiing Company and The Canyons have worked tirelessly to position the resort for success in the years to come.”
This news comes two weeks after American Skiing Company announced it was dissolving as a corporate entity after incurring numerous debts and negative capital. The Canyons is the last of its eight resorts it’s unloaded on various corporate entities in the past few months.
While many people believed the sales of the resorts would affect the quality of the resorts, American Skiing Company’s financial analyst and investor relations manager disputed such claims when the news first came out.
“The resort will continue to operate as normal,” Hirasawa said. “All the plans we’ve been working on are moving ahead. We will invest in the resort at a high level. Plans for the golf course are still in process. There’s no end to any of the exciting changes going at the resort.”
In response to the news, stock prices for American Skiing rose to 2 cents a share.