DENVER— The stock price of American Skiing Co., which owns Steamboat ski area, closed Dec. 27 at a record low of $0.47 a share, according to a report in The Denver Post. From its mountaintop pinnacle in November 1997, when its stock went public at $17 a share, American Skiing stock has endured steady and steep declines that mirror the black diamond runs at its eight ski resorts, said the paper. Since that day in November more than four years ago, American Skiing has never even neared its initial selling price. The largest ski resort operator in the country, American Skiing is also one of the countrys most financially troubled publicly held companies. “Why its even trading at 47 cents is something we cant even understand,” said Brad McCurtain, president of Maine Securities, which tracks all publicly held companies in Maine and one of the few financial analysts who still watches American Skiing. “The stock is effectively worthless. The company has run up the largest amount of losses of any company we are aware of in Maines history.” In the past year, the company has jettisoned its founder, Les Otten, who still owns a large chunk of the companys stock; sold its Sugarbush ski hill in Vermont; sold its new gondola at its Heavenly resort in California and then leased it back; and is still trying to sell Steamboat ski area. In March, a deal to merge with the 110-hotel Meristar Hotel & Resorts floundered and died. The proceeds from the sale of the Steamboat ski area, which has been delayed, will go only toward paying down Americans debt, which is almost $300 million. That means American will probably sell Steamboat for about $75 million less than it paid. In 1997, Maine-based American paid $288.3 million for Steamboat and Heavenly ski area in California. The details of the deal were never released, but American has since spent $80 million on a 327-room lodge at the base of Steamboat ski area. The companys fight to find stable financial ground and address its debt in the past year has prompted several refinancing steps that has placed its principal investor, Oak Hill Capital Partners, in control of the companys board of directors. “The stock has no value for the common shareholder,” McCurtain said. SOURCE: The Denver Post
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