The Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. board of directors has reportedly approved a plan to sell the company for $5 a share to an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, LLC, a New York investment firm.
The $5 per share price is reportedly a premium of 73% over the company’s six-month average. Based on the water park developer’s 31.56 million outstanding shares, the deal would be worth approximately $167.1 million. Apollo values it at $703 million, including debt assumption.
Great Wolf opened its first Great Wolf Lodge in 1997. It went public in December 2004, opening at $17 per share and closing its first day at $21. That was as high as the stock would ever go, and the company has posted a series of losses since. It has never realized an annual profit. In 2011, the company lost $25.7 million on revenue of $296.7 million, and between 2005 through 2011, total losses amounted to just over $259 million, according to SEC filings.
In 2008, then-CEO John Emery resigned after facing a proxy battled led by Great Wolf investor Eric Hovde, who pushed for a sale of the company. Hovde recently announced his candidacy for the Republican Senate nomination in the race to replace retiring Sen. Herb Kohl. Kim Schaefer is the current CEO. Great Wolf currently operates 11 properties nationwide.
Apollo’s offer still needs approval from shareholders.
