Whistler Blackcomb is hoping the 3.5 billion viewers that watched the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games translate into substantial growth over the next five years and help attract public shareholders.
Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. filed its preliminary prospectus Friday for its initial public offering to take the company public after reportedly failing to find a private buyer of the resort over the past year.
Vancouver-based resort operator Intrawest, which New York-based Fortress Investment Group acquired for US$2.8 billion in 2006, currently owns Whistler Blackcomb.
Under a reorganization for the IPO, part of the 75% stake Intrawest owns will be publicly owned. The remaining 25% will continue to be owned by Japan’s Nippon Cable Co., which also owns Sun Peaks Resort and Harvest Golf Club in B.C.
In its prospectus, Whistler Blackcomb hopes the resort will experience the same post-Olympic boost experienced by Salt Lake City after the 2002 Winter Olympics.
According to the National Ski Areas Association, in the five-year period following the Games, skier visits in Utah rose 6.2% on average, a rate five-times faster than the North American ski industry as a whole.
Surveys conducted by Tourism Whistler show global awareness of Whistler has increased substantially, with top-of-mind awareness rising to 42% from 19% in Germany, 62% from 48% in Australia, and 45% from 32% in the U.K.
Those gains should offset the substantial declines Whistler Blackcomb experienced last season if the trends come to pass.
Despite previous claims an Olympic aversion did not exist before and after the 2010 Games, the prospectus indicated the number of skier visits to Whistler fell 11.2% to 1.67 million, down from 1.88 million in the 2008 season, and well off the 11-year average of 2.07 million visitors a year.
While the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee did provide $32.1 million to Whistler to host the Games, the company said financial results were negatively impacted by a further $6.2 million of adjusted earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Had the resort not hosted the Games, the company said the number of visitors would likely have increased to 2.15 million.