Vail Resorts said it would buy Whistler Blackcomb, operator of the Canadian ski resort that was a venue for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, for about C$1.39 billion ($1.06 billion).
The C$36 per share cash-and-stock offer represents a premium of about 43% to Whistler Blackcomb’s Friday close.
Vail (MTN), which owns mountain resorts in the United States and Australia, will pay about C$676 million in cash and C$715 million in stock.
Whistler Blackcomb (WSBHF) operates a year-round mountain resort in British Columbia, which is open for skiing from November through May of each year.
A number of lifts, which take people up the hill, remain open from May through October for summer activities including sightseeing, hiking, glacier skiing and mountain biking.
Whistler and Blackcomb are two side-by-side mountains connected by cable lift. More than 200 trails, 14 alpine bowls and three glaciers are spread across the mountains.
More than 2 million skiers visited Whistler Blackcomb’s resort in the year ended March 31. The resort had 2.7 million visitors in all.
The company was formed in 1997 through the merger of Whistler and Blackcomb mountain resorts.
The deal, expected to close in fall 2016, comes seven months after Vail bought the Wilmot mountain ski area in Wisconsin.
Greenhill & Co is the financial adviser to Whistler Blackcomb. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt is the legal counsel to the company, and Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy is the legal counsel to Whistler Blackcomb’s special committee of the board.
Stikeman Elliott and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher are the legal counsel to Vail.