Peak Resorts was a publicly traded company based in Wildwood, Missouri that operated ski resorts in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast portions of the United States. It was bought by Vail Resorts in 2019.

Peak Resorts, Inc.
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: SKIS
Russell Microcap Index component

History

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The company was founded in 1977 by Tim Boyd two years after graduating the University of Missouri when he bought the Wildwood Golf Course in Wildwood, Missouri, for $250,000 with owner financing. In 1982, he added a ski resort that would become Hidden Valley Ski Area. Shortly thereafter, he opened a ski-resort in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, at Weston, Missouri (Snow Creek Ski Resort).[1]

The company continued to expand owning Paoli Peaks in Paoli, Indiana; Boston Mills and Brandywine in Peninsula, Ohio.

In 2002, it expanded with Crotched Mountain in Bennington, New Hampshire. In addition it had long-term leases on Jack Frost and Big Boulder ski areas in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania in the Poconos as well as Mad River Mountain in Valley Hi, Ohio.[1][2]

In 2002, the company acquired Crotched_Mountain_Ski_&_Ride in New Hampshire, a small ski area that had been shut for more than a decade. It built a new lodge, redid trails, and opened it in 2003.

In 2007, the company nearly tripled its revenue with the acquisition of Mount Snow in Vermont and Attitash in New Hampshire from the financially troubled American Skiing (which was owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity company). The acquisition increased Peak Resorts ski visitors from 1 million to 1.7 million and revenue of $85 million.[1] On October 21, 2010, the company announced it had entered into a purchase and sale agreement for Wildcat Mountain Ski Area in New Hampshire.

Previously privately owned, Peak Resorts shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market[3] on November 21, 2014, under the ticker symbol "SKIS." Its IPO saw an offering of 10,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $9.00 per share closed 9 days later on December 1, 2014.

On November 30, 2015, the company announced its intention to purchase Hunter Mountain adding its first New York mountain.[4] The acquisition was completed on January 7, 2016, in an all-cash deal of $35 million, plus the assumption of two capital leases estimated at $1.8 million. For the 2016–17 ski season, Peak Resorts debuted the Peak Pass that linked its seven Northeast resorts.

On July 22, 2019, it was announced that Peak Resorts would be acquired by Vail Resorts, pending approvals.[5] The transaction closed on September 24, 2019. The company's common stock was delisted from Nasdaq Global Select Market at the close of trading the same day.[6]

List of ski areas

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Peak Resorts ski areas

Ski Resorts formerly owned and operated by Peak Resorts, at the height of their ownership in 2019:

East

Midwest

References

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  1. ^ a b c Boyd's ski resort revenue climbs to $85 million - St. Louis Business Journal - February 23, 2007
  2. ^ Detailed Logan County Map Archived February 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Logan County Engineer's Office. Accessed 2009-01-27.
  3. ^ "Peak Resorts, Inc. Common Stock (SKIS)". NASDAQ.com. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  4. ^ "Hunter Mountain". www.peakresorts.com. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  5. ^ "Ski Travel Revolution: Vail Acquires 17 More Ski Resorts, Expands Epic Pass". Forbes. July 22, 2019.
  6. ^ "Vail Resorts Acquires Peak Resorts Inc".
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