American Skiing sells Maine sites to Boyne

Park City-based American Skiing is selling the Sunday River and Sugarloaf USA ski areas in western Maine to Boyne USA Inc. of Michigan for $77 million in cash.

American Skiing says it expects the transaction to close on or before July 31.

American Skiing President B.J. Fair said Boyne is an established operator and should bring a wealth of vision and resources to Sunday River in Newry and Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley. But he said that with so much of the company's roots and history at the Maine resorts, it will be hard to part with them.

Boyne, which will assume $2 million in debt and liabilities in the deal, is a privately held company that has interests in seven North American resort properties, including Big Sky Resort in Montana; Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and Bay Harbor in Michigan; Brighton in Utah; Crystal Mountain in Washington and Cypress Mountain in British Columbia, Canada.

American Skiing, which moved its headquarters to Utah from Maine five years ago, said in a press release that it expects to use net proceeds from the sale for working capital or as otherwise determined by its board of directors.

The company also said in the release that while American Skiing will be working on closing the sale of Sunday River and Sugarloaf, it "remains focused on operating The Canyons and reaching a successful and favorable resolution of the litigation involving the Utah resort."

The latest sale leaves the company with only The Canyons, its flagship property in Park City. The company is in a dispute over terms of a lease covering a key section of that 3,500-acre ski area.

Over the past few months, American Skiing has announced it was selling Steamboat in Colorado; Killington, Mount Snow and Pico in Vermont; and Attitash in New Hampshire.

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Contributing: The Associated Press