Falls Creek and Mount Hotham to be sold to Vail Resorts

Vail Resorts, which already owns Perisher in NSW, is planning to buy Victoria's Mount Hotham (top) and Falls Creek (below) ski resorts.

The acquisition is estimated to be for about $120 million.

It is being sold by the British-listed Merlin Entertainments, according to a Nine Entertainment report.

Merlin Entertainments, the world's second-biggest visitor attractions group behind Walt Disney, took over the failing Living and Leisure Australia (LLA) Group’s interests including the Melbourne Aquarium, Underwater World Mooloolaba, the Victorian ski resorts of Hotham and Falls Creek, in 2012.

It was 2015 when the US-based Vail Resorts bought James Packer's Perisher ski resort for $176.6 million.

The deal includes Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega resorts on a lease until 2048 with a 20-year option.

Kerry Packer bought the Perisher ski fields in 1972 with the takeover of Murray Magazines.

The mooted acquisitions of the Victorian resorts comes days after Vail's financial update that its fiscal 2019 first quarter net loss included the $1 million of headwind from currency translation related to operations at Perisher.