Intrawest owner wants Ottawa to pay $90M US: report Read mo

[grumpydigger]

The New York Post reported Monday that the parent of Intrawest ULC, the company which owns one of the venues for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, wants the Canadian government to put up $90 million US before the Games start or it will sue.

The Post reported the parent firm, Wall Street hedge fund Fortress Investments LLC, is negotiating with the Canadian government, which Fortress said had promised to repay its $90-million investment in Whistler Blackcomb. Whistler is to be the site of major alpine skiing events during the Olympics, which start in 11 days.
Back-country skiers descend Blackcomb Mountain in B.C. Back-country skiers descend Blackcomb Mountain in B.C. (Randy Lincks/Associated Press)

The report said Fortress wants to get paid before the Games start or it will start legal proceedings. It did not identify its sources.

The Post also reported that Fortress is offering cash to lenders of Intrawest in an offer to creditors that would give it more than two years to pull Intrawest out of its financial troubles.

Fortress paid $2.75 billion when it bought Intrawest in 2006, much of it with borrowed money. It is late on a $524-million debt payment.

Lenders have set a deadline of Feb. 19 — in the middle of the Games — to foreclose on Intrawest if they do not get more money from a deal to rearrange Intrawest's debt.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/02/0 ... alcomments#ixzz0eJ7WUGpF

[grumpydigger]

Canadian government to put up $90 million US before the Games start or it will sue........ This just gets better and better maybe the feds will take the money from the 1.6 billion dollar HST bribe they gave to GORDO Olympics

[theartsyfartsy]

Its so bad, its barely funny anymore
When the original story broke, I posted the link to my facebook with the comment "I smell a request for government bailout in 3...2..1..?"
guess I was right...

[grammafreddy]

Its so bad, its barely funny anymore

IMO there has NEVER been anything funny about the Olympics and it just keeps getting worse and worse.

It is totally beyond me why this farce is continuing every two years. No country's people can afford it any more.

[motorhomebabe]

Its so bad, its barely funny anymore

IMO there has NEVER been anything funny about the Olympics and it just keeps getting worse and worse.

It is totally beyond me why this farce is continuing every two years. No country's people can afford it any more.

Good old Gordo thought so ,wonder what he thinks now ?

[Nebula]

So did the NDP. That party supported the bid.

[motorhomebabe]

So did the NDP. That party supported the bid.

And so they all ,as will we ,have to live with the consequences

[Nebula]

Hey, the upside is, we won't have to go through this for a very, very long time.

Hmmm, how about the Commonwealth games...

[Captain Awesome]

[flamingfingers]

So did the NDP. That party supported the bid.

And so they all ,as will we ,have to live with the consequences

And so, the Lieberals supported the NDP's bid? Holy! You would really have expected the Lieberals to shoot it down in that case. Why did the Lieberals continue on with this farce then? Actually, don't tell me, the Lieberals thought it was a good idea at the time and ran with it. Thought that it would be a magnificent success and make them look sterling. Now the brass turds can try to lay the blame on the NDP. Lying criminals.

[animal lover1]

Liberal/NDP/Green/Social Credit/PC-seriously, now. This was a bipartisan effort to boost legacies of politicians. They all jumped to the trough to take credit, as they will if it is successful. And, they will blame each other for the failure.

[Cateyes]

Did I or did I not say this was coming!
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=23393

Line up and start eating crow people!

[mrj222]

90M is just the start. If they get that they will need another 500mill to 'maintain operations for the month of February' or some similar line of crap.

[Cateyes]

90M is just the start. If they get that they will need another 500mill to 'maintain operations for the month of February' or some similar line of crap.

{As the Fortress Grip around BC's balls tightens} oh no, they won't try to take advantage of the situation. Since when did a big US investment company with a history of bankruptcy try to do that. And surely they are not going to use the Olympics to leverage that. Why would anyone think that.........pfffft!

[Al Czervic]

If you actually read any of the articles in question Fortress alludes to an agreement they made with Vanoc in 2002. It is from this agreement that Fortress feels that they are owed the $ 90 Million for use of the resort during the Olympics. Unfortunately the agreement has not been made public so we cannot confirm this information.

As the owners of GM Place were paid to lease the facility to Vanoc it only stands to reason that there would be an agreement in place to pay Fortress for the use of the resort for the Olympics as well. Whatever this lease amount is would be included in the budget. What is not clear is if the $ 90 Million WAS the agreed upon rate and Fortress is simply looking to accelerate the payment in order to satisfy payment obligations prior to the Feb 19 creditor deadline or if the $ 90 Million is an inflated amount being asked for by Fortress.