Porters seeks investment

INVESTMENT TALKS: An artist's impression of a proposed multi-million dollar planned development at Porters Ski Area.

The ownership of the Porters Ski Area is likely to change substantially during a multi-million dollar planned development to create a larger ski field and alpine village.

Porters shareholder and director of development Michael Sleigh said a "significant chunk of equity" is needed for the first stage of the field-village development plan which could total $250 million.

Porters owners also need to cement a proposal to swap some land with the Department of Conservation for the skifield extension. Sleigh said he and fellow Christchurch investor Tim Allan could exit ownership of the company which was not profitable in its existing format but which had a 15-year vision for expansion.

Another shareholder group based around Christchurch investment banker Justin Murray could also leave. An Australian-based shareholder was in talks with other investors, he said. "Going forward, it's likely a reasonable chunk of the shareholding will consolidate around the Harvey family – they've been the principal funders of it," Sleigh said.

"That's being worked through at the moment."

Porters Ski Area has three main shareholding groups with a total of 1000 shares, according to the Companies Office.

The largest is Blackfish Pty (650 shares), which is associated with Australian investors – Simon Harvey, Duncan Bull and Chris Rose.

The Harvey family had so far spent nearly $7m on purchasing (for less than $2m) Porters and upgrading the site.

The family was having preliminary discussions with three-like minded families in Europe to join them in financing the Porters expansion, Sleigh said.

"We have looked hard at the type of people that have invested successfully in ski areas. It all seems to be family wealth-private equity ... the Harveys are talking to other long-term family investors."

He had met the Sydney-based Harvey family through Justin Murray, involved in one of the two Christchurch-based shareholding groups in Porters.

These are: NCP PH (300 shares) comprising Sleigh and Allan, and the second M&C PH (50 shares) comprises a group including Justin Murray, David Murray, Humphry Rolleston, Chris Milne and Richard Rookes.

Porters Ski Area annual revenues were around $2m.

The company made an operating profit before interest and debt costs but was not sustainable in this format, Sleigh said.

The owners of the field are applying for a rezoning for the Porters area. Sleigh said the current zoning was rural and the application was for a ski area zoning, which had been done in Queenstown but not in Selwyn district.

The new zoning would allow some skifield lifts and village development without consents at each stage, though some big projects would need consents, Sleigh said.

The application for a change to the Selwyn District Plan was being notified today.

- © Fairfax NZ News