Replying to Buying Steamboat.

My next project. Here's an article about it:

Denverpost.com

Monarch owners eye Steamboat bid
FOR SALE SINCE JULY
By Julie Dunn
Denver Post Staff Writer



As the first mountain snowfall ushers in the new ski season, a second potential bidder has emerged for Steamboat Ski Resort, which has been for sale since July.

A group of local investors who own Monarch Mountain ski resort west of Salida say they are preparing a bid. They are led by Bob Nicolls, who organized the $5.1 million Monarch purchase in 2002.

"We're going to try to put our hat in the ring," he said. "But I can't imagine paying over $200 million for it."

Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Crested Butte Mountain Resort, are also exploring a bid for Steamboat. "We haven't come to any final decisions yet," said Tim Mueller.

Steamboat's current owner, Park City, Utah-based American Skiing Co., put the resort up for sale two months ago.

Sales documents sent to potential investors and obtained by The Denver Post suggest that the ski area could be valued at as much as $275 million.

Steamboat drew 1.047 million skiers last winter and generated $74.2 million in revenue in fiscal 2006, up 12.3 percent from 2005.

"I think there will be quite a bit of interest in Steamboat from private-equity firms," said Will Marks, a ski-industry analyst at JMP Securities in San Francisco. "The main reason is that you can still buy ski resorts for pretty cheap, compared to other types of real estate."

Nicolls said he and a group of local investors are working to pair with a large equity partner to make the bid. Their offer is likely to fall in the $150 million to $170 million range, he said.

"In commercial real estate, there is so much money chasing so few deals that prices are getting bid up an unbelievable amount. But this isn't an office building. There is more risk to it," Nicolls said. His company owns 22 apartment complexes in the region.

Private-equity groups have made two large ski-industry purchases recently.

Last fall, Connecticut-based Starwood Capital Group bought Mammoth Mountain in central California for $365 million.

Last month, New York-based Fortress Investment Group agreed to spend $2.8 billion for Intrawest Corp., the owner of Copper Mountain and operator of Winter Park.

Denver-based venture-capital firm KSL Capital Partners is another local firm that could bid on Steamboat. Co-founded