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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Judge rejects $2 million loan for Tamarack

Associated Press

BOISE – A federal bankruptcy judge has rejected a $2 million loan to prop up Tamarack Resort while it finds a buyer, a blow to hopes of reopening the failed Idaho vacation getaway for skiing this year.

Jean-Pierre Boespflug, the French-born majority owner of the resort, said he’s working with his lawyer to craft a new proposal, possibly within a week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Terry Myers said the Credit Suisse Group-led proposal didn’t meet federal law, was likely to default and had the potential to further hurt those already owed millions by Tamarack after its 2008 collapse.

Bankers from Zurich-based Credit Suisse were leading investors who offered the money to hire a chief restructuring officer, pay a tardy $250,000 state land lease to Idaho and complete Tamarack’s sale.

Meanwhile, homeowners at Tamarack were counting on the loan coming through to help bolster their separate efforts to open the resort for skiing Dec. 20. A homeowners’ representative was still hopeful the package will succeed, despite this setback.

Myers wrote his decision was based on whether Tamarack provided adequate assurances that the interests of other creditors were protected even if Tamarack’s sale fell through – not on speculation about how the loan might help the resort open or how the cash infusion might ease its sale.

Boespflug said the judge’s ruling was a disappointment but he was hoping a new loan agreement would satisfy the lender, creditors and Myers.

Under the original terms demanded by Credit Suisse and Cleveland-based Candlewood Partners, another investor offering the loan, Boespflug and co-owner Alfredo Miguel were required to step down from management once the money came through.

That’s because they’d lost the confidence of some investors, who wanted a new restructuring officer to step in and oversee a potential sale.