CrossHarbor Capital Partners has launched a $100 million stalking horse bid for the private members ski and golf club Yellowstone Club after previously bidding a reported $470 million for the club a year ago.
The real estate investment firm today said it had won bankruptcy court approval for its stalking horse bid. Yellowstone Club, located in the Montana Rockies, filed for bankruptcy last year following the real estate downturn and the divorce of founders Tim and Edra Blixseth.
An affiliate of CrossHarbor has already provided debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to Yellowstone, which has around 340 private members, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
In a statement, CrossHarbor said it had bid $100 million for the 13,500-acre club with the assumption of “various liabilities”. CrossHarbor has also agreed to provide $75 million to reorganise the club and $7.5 million to pay creditors.
The Boston-based firm said the stalking horse bid was supported by a majority of Yellowstone’s members, and a committee of unsecured creditors. If any other bids are made, an auction will be held sometime between 30 April and 21 May.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Yellowstone Club members are battling over the way a $375 million loan from Credit Suisse was used by the Blixseths. The report said much of the loan proceeds were used on a failed global expansion and other personal investments and expenses, leaving Yellowstone with a pile of debt.
In 2008, the report added, CrossHarbor bid $470 million for the club but the deal fell apart.
Credit Suisse is reportedly opposed to CrossHarbor's bid, last week saying in a court filing that the bankrupt club had done nothing to solicit or encourage other possible buyers, and together with CrossHarbor had actually made it all but impossible for others to get involved in a bidding process.
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