Alterra is privately owned and not publicly traded. They dont have any shareholders to satisfy or dividends to pay. The Crown family owns some portion, but beyond that I don't know too much about the ownership model. Any further insights?
East Village at Deer Valley
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
- Start date
Crown and KSL are the managing partners, but there are passive investors who may be getting restless about when they will see returns. The SACV is some evidence of that.
Sorry what is SACV? I suspect Alterra is doing well at the Canadian owned resorts. Blue mtn and Tremblant continue to be busy. This is despite Tremblant being due for some lift upgrades.
ChrisC
Well-known member
A new class of Private Equity crap or 'entity' to deal with public offerings being few and far between for overvalued portfoloio companies.
Similar to the repackaged sh-t that were SPACs, which helped crypto/blockchain and other tech companies go public without the scrutiny of the IPO process and roadshow. (The Kardashians even had a SPAC around 2020).
SPAC
A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), or "blank check company," is a shell corporation that raises capital through an IPO to merge with or acquire a private company, taking it public within roughly 24 months. SPACs offer faster time-to-market and fixed pricing compared to traditional IPOs, though they often involve higher dilution and post-merger volatility.
How SPACs Function
- Formation: Sponsors (investors/industry experts) form the SPAC and hold roughly a 20% stake, often known as "founder shares" or "promote".
- IPO: The SPAC lists on an exchange, typically at per unit (stock + warrants), raising cash without operating assets.
- Acquisition:
The SPAC searches for a private firm to merge with. If investors dislike the target, they can redeem their shares for their portion of the cash in trust.
- De-SPAC: The merger is completed, and the private company becomes a public entity.
SACVs
Single-Asset Continuation Vehicles (SACVs) are a rapidly growing private equity strategy where a General Partner (GP) transfers a high-performing "trophy" portfolio company from an older fund into a new, dedicated fund to extend ownership. SACVs allow GPs to hold assets longer for further growth while offering existing Limited Partners (LPs) liquidity and bringing in new investors.
Key Aspects of SACV Transactions
- Growth and Volume: SACVs are the fastest-growing segment in PE secondaries, representing roughly 25% of global secondary volume in 2025. The market for these transactions has grown to over $30 billion in annual deals.
- Alignment of Interest: GPs typically roll over their carried interest and may invest additional capital into the new vehicle (often 5% to 10%), ensuring they are aligned with both new and existing investors.
- Benefits: These structures allow GPs to avoid selling high-performing assets too early, providing a way to maximize returns during a second growth phase.
- Risks and Conflicts: Because the GP acts as both seller and buyer in these transactions, there are inherent conflicts of interest. The SEC now commonly requires fairness opinions from third parties to ensure fair valuation.
- Market Dynamics: The SACV market is currently characterized by high demand, often resulting in an undercapitalized market where supply exceeds demand
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Wow thats a lot to try to understand. The books on Alterra have largely been closed. I wonder if the PE ownership fraction is significant relative to the managing partners? Vail is much easier to understand as its publicly traded.
If memory serves, Crans-Montana and Andermatt are the only ones that Vail has actually purchased or has a majority stake. I've only been to the latter and would not call that a second-tier resort. You consider CM second-tier also?
ChrisC
Well-known member
Well, there are so many ski areas in Europe that by default CM and Andermatt might be first tier if one were to pick top 10-20% of ski resorts.
I do not know their skier day numbers, buy both were hurting:
- Andermatt was just a military outpost with only Gemsstock when purchase by Egytpian Billionaire.
- Crans Montana was flirting with some bankruptcy/financial issues and lowered season pass prices in the 2000/2010s to just get back skier days.
This recently formed pass (below) and Magic Pass are reactions to any Vail offering in Europe - and much better. Yes, Vail will have no pass product for the world's #1 ski market - Europe. Huge Failute!
AlpsPass
https://www.alpspass.ski › areas
The Jungfrau Ski Region brings together the ski areas of Grindelwald-Wengen, Grindelwald-First and Mürren-Schilthorn to create an extensive skiing ...Read more
https://www.alpspass.ski/en/areas
The AlpsPass offers unlimited access to the Jungfrau Ski Region (Grindelwald-First, Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen, Mürren-Schilthorn) plus Adelboden-Lenk, Aletsch Arena, and Engelberg-Titlis, along with 3 days in 5 partner resorts. The standard Jungfrau Ski Region pass covers all regional lifts and trains, including Eiger Express.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I do love the results coming out of Deer Valley (see story below):
Still, the resort didn’t see an increase in visitors. Previous projections showed a 20% increase year over year thanks to the expansion, but Bennett is hoping for more visitors next season.
Alterra Mountain Company is investing a significant portion of its $400M 2025/2026 capital program into a "multi-hundred-million-dollar" expansion of Deer Valley Resort. This massive project is doubling the resort’s size to 4,300+ acres, adding seven new chairlifts (including a 10-person gondola) for the 25/26 season to create one of North America's largest ski resorts
I assume this is why the Alterra CEO is out! Hundreds of millions invested, projected 20% growth, and skier numbers fall! Can't put enough lipstick on that pig!
Although some interesting snowmaking claims and data points.
www.kpcw.org
Still, the resort didn’t see an increase in visitors. Previous projections showed a 20% increase year over year thanks to the expansion, but Bennett is hoping for more visitors next season.
Alterra Mountain Company is investing a significant portion of its $400M 2025/2026 capital program into a "multi-hundred-million-dollar" expansion of Deer Valley Resort. This massive project is doubling the resort’s size to 4,300+ acres, adding seven new chairlifts (including a 10-person gondola) for the 25/26 season to create one of North America's largest ski resorts
I assume this is why the Alterra CEO is out! Hundreds of millions invested, projected 20% growth, and skier numbers fall! Can't put enough lipstick on that pig!
Although some interesting snowmaking claims and data points.
Deer Valley Resort was no exception, but President Todd Bennett said it was still a record-setting year.
“It was definitely a little anticlimactic, but I am so proud of what the team was able to pull off,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” April 22. “We made more snow than we've ever made. We were in the neighborhood of, gosh, probably 500 million gallons of snowmaking this year.”
The manmade snow helped the resort open more terrain than ever before, with 185 of over 200 runs getting tracks. That’s 70 more than last year.
Bennett said about 100 of those runs opened for the first time, along with seven new chairlifts. The team got creative to make some openings a reality, especially around Christmas when temperatures weren’t dropping.
“We had extra snow at the base of the Pinyon lift and the grooming and the cat team decided we're going to take one bucket load at a time, literally front-end loader on the cat, and build a run to the top of Pinyon, just to get that open for the holiday guests,” Bennett said.
The latest snowmaking technology at Deer Valley’s East Village was a big help. Bennett said the TechnoAlpin snowmaking systems push out a lot of snow. On the coldest days during the season, Deer Valley’s over 300 snow guns were putting out around 19,000 gallons of snow per minute.
Deer Valley opens record amount of terrain despite low-snow season
Despite a lackluster winter, Deer Valley Resort still had a record-breaking season.
www.kpcw.org
EMSC
Well-known member
+1Million
What a complete waste of capital. Everyone I know has been talking about how bad the snow, terrain, etc... would be on that side of DV since the project was announced. Took exactly one season to demonstrate that literally every internet naysayer was precisely correct and knows way more than the 'suits' throwing money around at DV/Alterra.
jimk
Well-known member
I too can't help thinking the Deer Valley expansion boondoggle cost the Alterra CEO his job. I just renewed my Snowbird senior season pass. The one free day it included to Deer Valley has been dropped :-( But in its place we've been given one free "wasatch benefit" day at Snowbasin. I'm looking forward to visiting Snowbasin next year for the first time in about 8 years.
But I have to admit, Deer Valley attracts people. I know being on Ikon is a big part of it, but I've always been amazed at the high traffic on that mountain despite the costs, crowds, unsightly real estate development, and plenty of other nearby ski area competition. There apparently is a sizeable niche market for the luxury, full service atmosphere offered there, despite what I consider MEH terrain.
But I have to admit, Deer Valley attracts people. I know being on Ikon is a big part of it, but I've always been amazed at the high traffic on that mountain despite the costs, crowds, unsightly real estate development, and plenty of other nearby ski area competition. There apparently is a sizeable niche market for the luxury, full service atmosphere offered there, despite what I consider MEH terrain.
I heard while at Mammoth that the Alterra CEO lost his job due to "personal improprieties." No specifics, but the gist was handing out freebies/favors to friends and acquaintances.
I agree with all of this. But here's a piece in WePowder about the Euro perspective on our western winter of 2025-26.
I believe Alterra thinks they can make Deer Valley the Dolomites of North American skiing with that snowmaking system. My guess is that currently Sun Valley does the best job of providing a destination resort experience often dependent on snowmaking. But Deer Valley is a bigger challenge not only due to its larger scale but due to the considerable terrain with mediocre altitude/exposure and a warmer climate.
I'm a bit curious how well the Dolomites hold up in March if it hasn't snowed for awhile.
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ChrisC
Well-known member
What did one expect? The ski industry is a little different from Ticketmaster / Live Nation. I cannot imagine the requirements and norms of the entertainment industry.
The previous investors did hire Jared Smith. Not sure how popular he was (obviously, he was not) with new investors.
Also, the outlook for the Alterra IPO with a very heavy partnership model. Assume these contracts would all be disclosed (or ascertained) when Financial Statements and margins are analyzed compared to Vail.
And who will invest? What institutional investors? Look at comparable returns:
Also, the model of letting all Alterra ski resorts run independently with a council-like structure, making capital, marketing and Ikon pass decisions. This was likely a bad structure for investors, but likely better for skiers.
Jared Smith was also appointed at the most "irrationally exuberant" moment for ski/outdoor recreation stocks in the summer of 2021. Everyone was stuck in the USA, and skiing/outdoor businesses all soared. It was not real growth - or it was all pulled forward.
Even Vail's CEO admits they pulled all their growth forward during COVID by slashing pass prices, since they knew their elasticity curve. It helped him, and set up the next CEO for rough sailing and horrible comparables.
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EMSC
Well-known member
Not just stocks.
Actual visitation and usage patterns and etc... for various recreation activities has dramatically realigned since ~2022. Huge shifts in how people access and how long they do outdoor activities, etc... have occurred in the past 4 years. 2021 and 2022 were like shooting fish in a barrel from all the pent up demand for outdoor activities and retailers. Today - not so much. For example pretty much all biking companies had enormous sales bumps during/after Covid, today they are all shrinking fast and having to fight tooth and nail to be profitable - that would include both public and privately held companies (I know execs in both sides of that for biking).
