The champagne corks were popping Thursday at Intrawest's head office in Vancouver, after the vacation resort company said it has successfully completed a deal to refinance a $1.7 billion loan.
The move appears to eliminate the uncertainty surrounding the company, and its flagship ski operations in Whistler, B.C., one of the host venues for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Intrawest said the deal was reached after the company received unanimous support from its lender group.
"We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with our lenders, particularly given the challenges of the global credit markets," said Bill Jensen, chief executive officer at Intrawest.
Intrawest is a unit of the Fortress Group LLC, which paid $1.8 billion for the resort firm and its 10 North American mountain resorts two years ago.
As a vacation resort operatorm and developer of real estate at its resorts and at other locations across North America and in Europe, the company is widely seen as being vulnerable to the global financial downturn.
It is why the move to refinance the $1.7 billion loan was being closely watched.
