Receivers trying to sell Whakapapa skifield: Latest Ruapehu Alpine Lifts report

The Ruapehu skifields at Whakapapa, Tūroa, and Tukino are all within a two hour drive of Taupō. Photo / Mt Ruapehu

Receivers are still trying to sell the insolvent Whakapapa skifield on Mount Ruapehu after the sale of Tūroa was announced in April.

The receivers have issued their latest report giving an update on the sale of Central Plateau assets, saying any Whakapapa buyer must strike a deal with the Crown to continue operating the giant North Island skifield.

The Companies Office has just posted the report from Calibre Partners’ Neale Jackson and Brendon Gibson, receivers of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts which is also in liquidation.

Their second report updating the status of the business shows they are continuing to operate it while they hunt for a buyer.

That second report referred to the sale of the Tūroa skifield settled in April.

“The purchaser assumed and subsequently paid around $530,000 of the company’s pre-insolvency unsecured creditor and staff claims. As a result of the sale, therefore the company’s debts reduced by $530,000,” the update said.

“We are currently running a sale process for the business and assets of the Whakapapa skifield. If a sale agreement can be reached, the purchaser will need to secure a concession from the Department of Conservation to operate the skifield as a condition of settlement,” the report signed by Jackson said.

Last month, the Herald reported concerns raised about commercial viability in official advice to Cabinet around Whakapapa skifield, which has been subject to an on-and-off bidding war for some time.

The skifield, sitting on the northern side of the mountain, has been under more uncertainty recently than its southern counterpart Tūroa. The Tūroa side is being run for the first time this season by company Pure Tūroa, after recently receiving a 10-year concession from DoC following a lengthy bidding and consultation process.

In February, the Herald reported the Crown’s preferred bidder for the insolvent Whakapapa skifield, Tom Elworthy, had walked away from negotiations.

“It’s a dead bid ... there’s inadequate [Crown] funding,” Elworthy told the Herald then.

He said a combination of factors now make a commercial business case for the operation impossible: the untenably short licence to operate the skifield on offer by the department - the skifield is in the Tongariro National Park - and a “fiscal cut” to the Crown’s commitment to the bid, a change since the election of the Government last October.

Today’s receivers’ report said Crown Regional Holdings is owed $44.4 million by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts.

“Interest continues to accrue on this balance,” the report said.

From October 27, last year up to April 26 this year, the receivers listed total receipts of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts as $12.3m. That includes $1.7m trading revenue from lift-pass income, cafe revenue and season pass sales.

Payments totalled $7.5m in the period. That included $2.4m in operating expenses, $2.5m in salaries and wages and further money going out in legal fees, insurance, receivers’ payment, repairs and maintenance.

The company has $4.4m in the bank.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.