Billionaire entrepreneur Philip Anschutz submitted the highest bid for Windstar Cruises in a two-day auction held May 16 and 17 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Anschutz Corp. won the auction with a bid of about $39 million, Bloomberg reported.
Windstar’s parent, Ambassadors International, filed Chapter 11 in early April and entered into a stalking-horse agreement to sell all of its assets to Whippoorwill Associates, a private investment firm in White Plains, N.Y., that is Windstar’s largest creditor.
Whippoorwill had agreed to provide $10 million in new financing under a debtor-in-possession credit facility.
However, Ambassadors, in counsel with the bankruptcy court, determined after the auction that TAC Cruise, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Corp., submitted the best offer.
This is Anschutz's first investment in a cruise line. The Anschutz Entertainment Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anschutz Corp., owns and/or operates several sports venues, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
AEG owns several sports franchises, as well, including the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
Anschutz also controls Xanterra Parks & Resorts, a company that provides lodging and other tourism services at several U.S. National Parks, including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
Last year, Xanterra bought the Kingsmill Resort, a conference and golf resort near Williamsburg, Va.