Update
Tamarack Resort Announces Layoffs, Credit Suisse Files Another Suit
By Courtney Lowery, 3-28-08
Idaho’s Tamarack Resort, whose investors are embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings and facing foreclosure from the investment bank Credit Suisse, announced in a statement late Friday that it is laying off “a number” of full-time employees.
Ken Rider, Tamarack’s director of resort sales and marketing said the layoffs will “happen in stages in the next couple of weeks” as the winter season winds up. Rider could not say how many employees would be let go. The resort’s season will end April 13 and as normal, most seasonal employees will be done at the resort, but this year, year-round employees—especially those whose jobs entail “non-essential” duties during the off season—will be let go as well, Rider said.
Rider said the cutbacks are “more of a sizing to the season,” but the financial woes facing the resort are factoring in.
“There is a relationship between the revenue coming in and the expenses” and what is happening, Rider said. “We’re just looking at the right sizing for the business.”
The release, which first detailed the record number of visitors and snowfall for Tamarack this season, stated: “… in light of economic circumstances, several staffing changes are occurring to ensure the resort’s continued operation.”
Earlier this month, Tamarack public relations consultant Jessica Flynn told NewWest.Net’s Matthew Frank that some cutbacks could be expected, especially during the typically slower end-of-winter and end-of-summer seasons.
Also Friday, the Idaho Statesman’s Ken Dey reported that Credit Suisse, which began foreclosure proceedings on the resort earlier this month, filed another lawsuit this week, this time against Tamarack’s investors themselves: CEO and founder, Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Mexican businessman and co-founder Alfredo Miguel Afif. In that filing, Credit Suisse is seeking damages from Afif and Boespsflug personally for allegedly violating a written agreement on a $250 million loan from Credit Suisse. The investment bank filed suit seeking foreclosure on the resort in regard to the same loan March 11.
Rider could not comment on the recent suit and his only comment on the bankruptcy was “It’s going through the legal process.”
Boespsflug and his Cross Atlantic Real Estate and Afif and his VPG Investments filed for bankruptcy protection Feb. 15. Boespflug said then that the filing would have no impact on the resort’s day-to-day operation. He explained that an $118 million dollar loan from the French bank Société Générale—money meant to finish the resort village—had fallen through and the bankruptcy filing was meant to remove temptation for Credit Suisse, as Boespflug put it, to “exercise on the pledge of their shares in Tamarack Resort.”
The laid-off employees will retain their benefits packages and the statement said resort managers are hopeful they will be able to hire the employees back after the “shoulder season.” It also assured that from April 14 to May 23, lodging, the spa, the restaurant and conference facilities will still be open. The resort also plans to kick off its summer season Memorial Day weekend.
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