Vail Resorts Inc.’s largest stakeholder, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., agreed to sell 1.78 million shares of the ski company’s common stock in a complex financial transaction totaling $50.5 million, according to a document filed late Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The buyer was not disclosed.
The shares account for roughly 5 percent of Vail Resorts’ 37.17 million shares outstanding as of Nov. 4.
Vail Resorts’ stock closed at a record-high $37 Wednesday, up $1.12.
In a filing this month, St. Louis-based Ralcorp said it planned to sell the shares to investors through Charlotte, N.C.- based Bank of America. The shares were sold by RH Financial Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ralcorp.
Ralcorp will remain Vail Resorts’ largest shareholder after the sale closes. As of Sept. 26, it owned 7.55 million shares of common stock, or 20.6 percent of the shares outstanding.
Both Ralcorp and Vail Resorts declined to comment on the sale.
Bank of America announced this week that it would begin covering Vail Resorts, rating its stock a “buy” and setting a 12-month target price of $42. On Wednesday, Standard & Poor’s upgraded its rating on Vail Resorts from sell to hold.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
