Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which ran the Whakapapa (pictured) and Tūroa ski fields, went into voluntary administration in October. Photo: Unsplash / Matthew Buchanan
Both proposals to take over management of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts have failed.
A watershed meeting was held behind closed doors on Tuesday, with creditors voting down proposals to either retain the current company structure, or to hand it over to two private companies.
The company, which was one of the central North Island's biggest employers, went into voluntary administration last year owing $45 million.
In May, Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton said a deal was close to being settled on who would be taking over Ruapehu ski fields.
Four bidders had been vying for the contracts to take over, and Kirton said government officials had picked the two they favoured to run each ski field separately.
In October, RAL said the past three years had been difficult dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with poor weather this ski season.
It employed about 196 staff across its Whakapapa and Tūroa ski areas.
'Worst possible outcome'
Administrator PWC will hand back control to directors, who will file for liquidation.
PWC voluntary administrator John Fisk told Checkpoint the way the vote had fallen meant there was no result for anyone at present.
It was "the worst possible outcome", he said.
The vote was significantly against the first option (retaining the present structure), while the second option of handing operations over to two companies had only 44 percent support in terms of numbers. It needed the support of 50 percent of creditors present at the meeting and they had to represent over 75 percent in value.
The life pass holders were by far the biggest bloc attending the meeting, Fisk said.
"There were some very strong views and there's a lot history to the relationship, particularly between life pass holders and the company and its directors.
"A lot of that was put on the table again today. It was done in a respectful way but there's obviously a lot of water that's gone under the bridge there."
If the company went into liquidation at a High Court hearing on Wednesday, PWC would be appointed liquidators and would be still trying to secure a deal.
"This is contingent on the concessions from the Department of Conservation being available to be assigned to the new purchasers."
Staff were still employed by RAL and some funds were available to pay any who turned up tomorrow, Fisk said.