Pirate Nudges Intrawest - "It's All About the Land."

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Pirate Nudges Intrawest - "It's All About the Land."

By
April 14, 2006

While mountain resort watchers scratch their heads over the latest personnel change at Intrawest, the message from the Canadian company's biggest shareholder could not be clearer: sell.

The company's stock has soared almost 75 percent over the past 12 months but an activist hedge fund aptly named Pirate Capital, which already owns 12 percent of that stock and is "snapping up shares", according to Barron's, is pressuring the company to sell itself in order to "unlock" what it considers its undervalued real estate.

New COO Alex Wasilov, a former investment manager as well as former president of Rosenbluth International (later bought by American Express) also may be part of an Asian strategy for Intrawest, say some industry execs, who requested anonymity on the grounds that they are not speaking for their own organizations.

Wasilov has been put in charge of real estate; mountain resorts; lodging, golf and spa; adventure and active travel; and corporate development. He will report directly to Joe Houssian, Intrawest's CEO. But what's key in some people's minds is that while a top-tier official at Kodak and Xerox, Wasilov was in charge of those company's China business.

"Could a partnership with a Chinese company in a major destination resort in China be on Intrawest's private agenda?" ask those who keep track of the company's moves.

Meanwhile, Pirate Capital has made no secret of its push to get Intrawest to auction itself to the highest bidder, with or without a push into China. Company analyst Stephanie Tran says a sale could bring shareholders between $43 and $48 a share. "The market is not valuing the land," she told the Wall Street Journal.

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