Alpine Lifts fate left dangling . . . again
Potential buyer walks away from deal
It’s frustrating for local businesses. Any business associated with the mountain will be very, very concerned along with the council. Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton
The buyer of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts has confirmed he has walked away from negotiations on purchasing the Whakapapa skifield, leaving its future uncertain.
Tom Elworthy and his partners were the Government’s preferred bidder for assets of the Whakapapa skifield on Mount Ruapehu.
But Elworthy said the deal was not worth it and no one would be willing to take on a business with more than $15 million of debt repayments and other risks.
New owners of the skifield needed to have a fresh operating concession from the Department of Conservation (DoC).
A 10-year concession was offered to Elworthy’s group but could be reviewed at the five-year mark.
The Government committed $20m towards keeping it afloat for last year’s ski season and over the past 16 months.
The previous Labour-led government said it was important to keep RAL running for the local tourism sector and the central North Island economy.
But it is now unclear whether the upcoming ski season can go ahead this winter without taxpayers’ money to prepare it for the next ski season and to hire workers.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told media that ministers Tama Potaka and Louise Upston, the MP for Taupō , were working on the issue and conversations about it were ongoing.
There would be “more to say about it later,”, Luxon said.
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton told RNZ the withdrawal had put a major spanner in the works for the area.
“It’s frustrating for local businesses. Any business associated with the mountain will be very, very concerned along with the council. It turns over something like $100m collectively between the two mountains through our industry and that’s certainly a big hit for the community,” Kirton said.
He was aware that Whakapapa would be more difficult to negotiate because of different mana whenua connections.
“This area is split into two in terms of iwi relationships and the relationships
with Tūroa are a little bit different from the northern part of the mountain.
“We’ve got Tū wharetoa of course who put a bid in and indicated they weren’t happy with the arrangements that were made so it’s only my guess that there’s been some sort of hiccup there in terms of relationships, if not how it should all be unfolded.”
Kirton said it would be known in “due course” why the potential sale failed.
“I suspect that DoC along with the other stakeholders couldn’t see their way clear to get something over the line.”
He said he was not aware of the new Government’s position and would urgently try to get ministers up
to speed with everything happening around RAL and how important it was to the area’s economy.
Sam Clarkson, of Ruapehu Skifield Stakeholders Association, was furious the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) did not engage with the group’s idea to run both slopes together as a not-forprofit, using crowdfunding and having iwi on board, saying officials favoured private for-profit bids.
“RAL is not a hopeless case. There’s a solution. There’s a solution that works for iwi. There’s a solution that works for the ski community. It’s just not a solution that works for the privateers, that’s all.”
Whakapapa Holdings director Dave Mazey said a reduced support package from the Crown was a factor in the decision for it to withdraw from negotiations with MBIE.
“In the end, our investors came to the conclusion that it was an opportunity that wasn’t as palatable as originally put together.”
Only being offered a 10-year licence to operate was also untenable against the uncertain backdrop of Crown Treaty settlements with local iwi and what that could mean for the use of the ski slopes.
“And probably the last thing that’s always been there, and what some people forget, is you’re taking on a $14m debt with the Sky Waka bonds associated with the investment made in 2018 and within four years that’s, effectively, got to be repaid.”
Mazey said the Government was amenable to Whakapapa Holdings but it had its own constraints too.
“I think Whakapapa is a viable business going forward. This is assuming that the current debt levels are reduced significantly and that we’ve got a tenure and an outlook that allows that traditional terrain available for skiing and recreational activity to continue to be available in some form.”
Jones and MBIE declined to comment while commercial arrangements for Whakapapa were under consideration.