Sandestin could be on auction block (UPDATE)
SANDESTIN — Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort and other properties owned by parent company Intrawest could be sold at auction as early as Feb. 19.
A notice of foreclosure has been posted in the New York Times and Toronto’s Globe and Mail by the company's lenders, which include Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. The notice states that an auction to sell Intrawest’s assets will be Feb. 19.
Ian Galbraith, director of corporate communications for Intrawest, disputed reports from other media outlets that lenders had seized Intrawest’s properties.
“There have been inaccurate and misleading media reports surrounding Intrawest,” Galbraith wrote in an e-mail to the Daily News. “Fortress Investment Group continues to own and control Intrawest and all of its properties, including Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.”
Fortress Investment Group LLC is a private equity firm in New York.
Intrawest, based in Vancouver, British Colombia, has been struggling financially since Fortress bought the company for $2.8 billion in cash and debt in 2006.
The deal was a leveraged buyout with a $1.7 billion loan which came due in late 2008, about the time the financial crisis hit.
Intrawest has sold several assets to meet its payments, including a resort at Copper Mountain, Colo., and two resorts in France.
“Serious discussions with Intrawest’s lenders are ongoing regarding refinancing, and the company continues to operate business as usual at all of its resort properties,” Galbraith wrote.
Sandestin has been a part of Intrawest since July 1998, when the company finalized a $130 million buyout from Malaysia-based Sime Darby Berhad.
Intrawest reportedly missed payments due last month on a $1.4 billion loan, which led to Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner to file the notice of foreclosure.
An auction of Intrawest’s properties could affect next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Downhill skiing, bobsled and luge competitions are scheduled for Intrawest’s Whistler Blackcomb.
The auction could be avoided if Intrawest comes up with its payment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
