Vail Takes Full Ownership of Specialty Sports Venture

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SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Apr. 30, 2010-Vail Resorts is purchasing the remaining 30 percent interest in its majority-owned retail joint venture, Specialty Sports Venture (SSV), held by affiliated entities of Tom and Ken Gart, for $31 million. The transaction is expected to close today.

SSV has more than 145 sporting goods retail/rental locations, including Colorado Ski & Golf, Bicycle Village and dozens of slopeside ski and snowboard shops, under a variety of names, in Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Aspen, Telluride and other Colorado mountain communities, plus others around Heavenly Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe and in Park City and Salt Lake City. SSV also owns the Any Mountain shops in the San Francisco Bay area, as well as www.rentskis.com, North America's largest ski rental website and the equipment provider for online travel websites such as Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, Orbitz.com and Ski.com.

SSV founders and leaders Ken and Tom Gart are leaving the company, and will be succeeded by Kat Jobanputra, a 20-year veteran of SSV and its current executive vice president and chief operating officer. Jobanputra and 52 other corporate employees will relocate from their current headquarters in Denver, Colo. to Vail Resorts' Broomfield, Colo., offices in the fall. The Gart family will continue to own Gart Properties and Gart Capital Partners.

"Ken and Tom Gart have been terrific partners with our company for over 12 years and have been largely responsible for the incredible growth and performance of Specialty Sports Venture over that time period," said Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts. "While our agreement calls for the partnership with Tom and Ken to come to an end, their contribution to building SSV will live on under the strong leadership of Kat Jobanputra."

"Tom and I could not be more proud of the accomplishments of everyone at Specialty Sports Venture over the past 16 years," said Ken Gart, president of SSV. "While our partnership with Vail Resorts always called for an ending, it is certainly a bittersweet moment for both of us and our family."