Press Release: American Skiing Company
May 4, 2001
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA -- American Skiing Company (NYSE: SKI) today announced that it had entered into an agreement
with Marriott Vacation Club International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR)
to sell its 85% ownership interest in the entity that controls the development rights for the Heavenly Grand Summit
quartershare hotel adjacent to its Heavenly resort and in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Closing on the sale is expected to occur in mid-May. The closing is subject to standard purchase terms and conditions,
as well as the approval of the transfer by the Redevelopment Agency of the City of South Lake Tahoe, California.
``This is a great compliment to our leisure portfolio and the addition of a quartershare concept enhances our product
offering,'' said Steve Weisz, president of Marriott Vacation Club International. ``We look forward to seeing through
the vision that American Ski Company had created for this exceptional resort.''
``The deal will fulfill one of the Company's long-standing strategic goals of completing the quartershare development,
the Heavenly gondola and the adjacent Marriott development as quickly as possible in order to support the growth
of Heavenly Ski Resort,'' said American Skiing Company CEO B.J. Fair. ``The deal allows us to capture significant
value that has been created in this site sooner than originally planned and is an important part of a more comprehensive
plan to restructure our business going forward. This transaction also builds on our strong relationship with Marriott
and is consistent with our strategy of using third party developers to generate incremental resort revenues,''
concluded Fair.
``The quartershare development, along with the adjacent Marriott vacation ownership development both of which surround
the company's recently completed gondola, will result in the dramatic makeover of downtown South Lake Tahoe envisioned
by the Park Avenue Redevelopment Plan,'' added Stan Hansen, senior vice president of real estate development at
Heavenly.
Headquartered in Newry, Maine, American Skiing Company is the largest operator of alpine ski, snowboard and golf
resorts in the United States. Its resorts include Steamboat in Colorado; Killington, Mount Snow and Sugarbush in
Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA in Maine; Attitash Bear Peak in New Hampshire; The Canyons in Utah; and
Heavenly in California/Nevada. More information is available on the company's Web site, www.peaks.com.
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NYSE: MAR) is a leading worldwide hospitality company with over 2,300 operating units
in the United States and 59 other countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels under the
Marriott, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownPlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Ramada
International brand names; operates Ritz-Carlton brand hotels through The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC; develops
and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott, Ritz- Carlton Club and Horizons brands; operates executive
apartments and conference centers; and provides furnished corporate housing through its ExecuStay by Marriott division.
Other Marriott businesses include senior living communities and services, wholesale food distribution, and procurement
services. Marriott is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has approximately 154,000 employees. In fiscal year
2000, Marriott International reported systemwide sales of $19.8 billion. For more information or reservations,
please visit our web site at www.marriott.com.
This document contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements
are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect American Skiing Company's current expectations concerning
future results and events. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals are or may be forward
looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In addition to
factors discussed above, other factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ
materially from those projected include, but are not limited to, the following: changes in regional and national
business and economic conditions affecting both American Skiing Company's resort operating and real estate segments;
competition and pricing pressures; failure to effectively manage growth, business and financial condition; failure
to effectively integrate or operate recently acquired companies and assets; failure to renew or refinance existing
financial liabilities and obligations or attain new outside financing; failure of on- mountain improvements and
other capital expenditures to generate incremental revenue; adverse weather conditions regionally and nationally;
seasonal business activity; changes to federal, state and local land use regulations; changes to federal, state
and local regulations affecting both American Skiing Company's resort operating and real estate segments; litigation
involving anti-trust, consumer and other issues; failure to renew land leases and forest service permits; disruptions
in water supply that would impact snowmaking operations and impact operations; the loss of any of our executive
officers or key operating personnel; control of American Skiing Company by principal stockholders; failure to hire
and retain qualified employees and other factors listed from time-to-time in American Skiing Company's documents
filed by the Company with the Securities Exchange Commission. The forward looking statements included in this document
are made only as of the date of this document and under section 27A of the Securities Act and section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act, we do not have any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances.
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Contacts:
Skip King, Media Relations, 207-824-5020
Erik Preusse, Investor Relations, 207-824-5013