Rocky Mountain News – A hedge fund manager pushing Intrawest Corp. – the owner of Copper Mountain and operator of Winter Park – to sell itself has gobbled up more shares of the ski resort and realestate development company.
Pirate Capital now owns 7.1 million shares, or nearly 15 percent, of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Intrawest, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
Hedge funds have grown increasingly feisty by buying large stakes of companies and using them to try to bring about change that will light a fire under the stocks.
The activist role is a familiar one to Pirate Capital.
The Connecticut hedge fund firm sent a letter to Intrawest in early March urging the board to “fulfill your fiduciary duties to all shareholders by immediately initiating a sale of the entire company.”
The hedge fund operator said it believed Intrawest’s stock was worth at least $45 a share and that investors had undervalued the company’s real estate holdings.
“Numerous potential bidders” are willing to acquire the company, the firm wrote. Pirate Capital added it had spoken with “various parties” and investment bankers about the company’s alternatives.
Intrawest shares rose slightly on Monday to $36.35. The stock is up 26 percent so far this year.
