SAM Magazine-Stowe, Vt., May 18, 2009-Stowe Mountain Resort, owned by insurance giant and ward of the government AIG, is for sale,
AIG spokesman Peter Tulupman confirmed last week. AIG has received "a surprising number" of unsolicited bids from qualified buyers, Tulupman said, though no bidders have been named or identified, nor has the asking price been revealed.

How much is Stowe worth? One industry insider has estimated it to be at least equal to Killington, which sold in 2007 for $85 million. While Stowe hosts fewer visits overall, the area has valuable permits for future real estate development, including remaining portions of the nearly-completed $400 million expansion project at Spruce Peak.

According to the Stowe Reporter, the town government's 2008 grand list values all the property in the hands of AIG Stowe Holdings at just under $100 million. That includes the 1,795-acre ski complex, valued at $23.3 million, and Stowe Country Club, valued at $4.3 million.

Stowe Mountain operations include the Spruce Camp base lodge, rental equipment and demonstration centers, ski and snowboard school, children's ski and snowboard programs, grooming and snowmaking, 10 restaurants and grills on and around the mountain, cross-country skiing activities, summer recreation activities including the Stowe Country Club golf course, auto toll road, and gondola sky ride, and a variety of resort properties, including Stowe Mountain Lodge (and its remaining inventory of fractional and wholly owned condominiums), the spa at Stowe Mountain Lodge, remaining home sites, and the Stowe Mountain Club, the new golf course cut into the side of a mountain.

Tulupman said AIG is "confident we will attract a number of qualified buyers." He called the sale "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and noted that AIG recently sold a building in Tokyo that also fit the once-in-a-lifetime description, and got a really good price.

News of the possible sale of Stowe resort has been widely anticipated. AIG has been selling assets all over the world, trying to recover from a near-collapse that was avoided only by a federal bailout. AIG has received more than $182 billion from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, and the Treasury now owns nearly 80 percent of the company.

AIG's relationship with Stowe began with AIG's founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, who launched the Mt. Mansfield Co., which owned the resort for many years. In 1970, his estate sold the company to AIG.

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who chaired AIG from 1968 to 2005, shared Starr's love for the resort. In an interview with Forbes magazine last November, Greenberg said he doubts the current management feels the same. "It's a different company with different people now," he told Forbes. "I think the government would rather see it sold." It now looks like the government will get its wish. \

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