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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;P&gt;NEWRY, Maine, May 9 &amp;#8212; American Skiing Company (OTC Bulletin Board: AESK) announced today that it has closed on its previously announced sale of Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, California to Vail Resorts, Inc. &amp;#8220;The closing of the Heavenly sale is the final major element of the restructuring plan we implemented last year,&amp;#8221; said CEO B.J. Fair.  &amp;#8220;The sale significantly reduces debt and places the resort company on more stable financial footing.  The completion of this transaction, coupled with cost reductions and performance enhancements initiated during the last year, is expected to result in improved financial performance.&amp;#8221; American Skiing Company will use proceeds from the sale to reduce outstanding indebtedness by approximately $88.5 million.  In conjunction with the closing, the Company has negotiated an amendment to its resort senior credit facility which addresses application of proceeds and provides for a term facility of $32.9 million and a revolving credit facility of $52.1 million.  The existing maturity dates for the facility will not change.  In addition, forward looking covenants have been adjusted to reflect the Company&amp;#8217;s ongoing operations and business plan. The Company continues to work with its real estate lenders to negotiate amendments to its real estate credit facilities.  Until the Company completes those negotiations and publicly releases information concerning them, investors should continue to refer to disclosures made in the Company&amp;#8217;s recent 10-Q filing, dated January 27, 2002, on file with the Securities Exchange Commission. About American Skiing Company   Headquartered in Newry, Maine, American Skiing Company is one of the largest operators of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States.  Its resorts include Killington and Mount Snow in Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf\\/USA in Maine; Attitash Bear Peak in New Hampshire; Steamboat in Colorado; and The Canyons in Utah.  More information is available on the Company&amp;#8217;s Web site, www.peaks.com.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://snowboarding.transworld.net/photos/american-skiing-company-closes-heavenly-sale/>