Tourism group accepts

Press, 25 January 1989, Page 25

Tourism group accepts

The directors of Leisureland Corporation, an Auckland tourism and skifield group, have recommended the offer made by Greater Capital Investment Company, of California.

Greater Capital is making an unusual bid of one 10 per cent debenture with a face value of 48c a share, maturing in 5 years, and one 12 per cent debenture with a face value of 25.5 c a share, maturing in 10 years, for each Leisureland share.

The offer is being made through Concerto Holdings, a New Zealand company owned by Greater Capital, incorporated with a capital of $lOO. If the take-over bid is successful the shareholders in Concerto propose to increase the paid-up capital to $1.5 million.

Greater Capital is a private tourism and hotel group, based in San Francisco, and run by a U.S. businessman, Mr Mark Cohn. The chairman of Leisureland, Mr John St Clair Brown, said yesterday that the interests of Greater Capital included the Sheraton hotels in Phoenix and Chicago.

The Leisureland board had recommended the offer because it considered the price and terms to be fair and reasonable. The new sponsorship which Concerto offered was in the long-term interests of Leisureland, he said. The offer is conditional upon a 90 per cent acceptance for Leisureland’s shares and Concerto entering an acceptable arrangement for the management of Leisureland.

The directors of Leisureland, which runs the Mount Hutt skifield through majority ownership of the Mount Hutt Ski and Alpine Tourist Company, have withdrawn their "don’t sell” notice.