Less than five years since returning to private hands, Whistler Blackcomb returned to the public markets, raising $300 million in its initial public offering Tuesday.
It had a fairly strong rush out of the gate when it began trading under the symbol WB on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It traded as high as $12.50 before trending down closer to its IPO price of $12 per share, closing at $12.06 per share.
Following the IPO, about 41% of the resort will be owned by public shareholders, although Intrawest ULC, which owned 75% of Whistler Blackcomb, will continue to be the single largest shareholder with 34% of the total number of shares outstanding. Nippon Cable Co. Ltd. will continue to own 25% of the resort.
The IPO was offered by a string of underwriters including CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital, BMO Nesbitt Burns, TD Securities, Goldman Sachs Canada, Canaccord Genuity, Desjardins Securities, HSBC Securities (Canada) and Raymond James Ltd.
The partial sale of Whistler Blackcomb is the latest divestiture by Intrawest, which has sold off several of its assets in the past year, reportedly to address the serious financial troubles surrounding Intrawest’s owner Fortress Investment Group, which took Intrawest private in a 2006 deal worth US$2.8 billion.
Details of its previous sales are in previous BIV Business Today stories here and here.