KSL Buys ClubCorp

I ran across this press release today:

Dallas, TX (Vocus) January 9, 2007—Haynes and Boone, LLP announced today that it has finalized the $1.8 billion sale of ClubCorp to KSL Capital Partners.

ClubCorp—the leading operator of golf courses and country clubs in the world—reached an agreement to merge with KSL last October. KSL is a private equity fund with $1 billion of committed capital in the resort and leisure industry.

The conclusion of the deal ended months of work by a Haynes and Boone team that included Garrett DeVries, Tom Yang, Matt Zmigrosky, Randy Colson, Vicki Martin-Odette, Ken Bezozo, Brandon Jones, David Shinnick, Susan Wetzel, Greta Cowart and Mary Mendoza.

In a separate but related transaction, ClubCorp also closed on an agreement to sell The Pinehurst Resort and Country Club to certain members of the Dedman family, owners of about 70 percent of ClubCorp, in a $325 million transaction. Thompson and Knight represented the Dedman family in that transaction and Winston & Strawn represented a special committee of ClubCorp’s Board of Directors.

ClubCorp’s renowned resort properties include Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas (site of two Canadian Tour events); and The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia (America’s first resort founded in 1766); Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio (site of the World Golf Championships—Bridgestone Invitational); and Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California (home of the Kraft Nabisco Championship).

The company also holds more than 60 business clubs and business and sports clubs, including the Boston College Club, City Club on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles, Columbia Tower Club in Seattle, Metropolitan Club in Chicago and the City Club of Washington, D.C.

The interesting thing here is to note that the deal includes The Homestead and The Firestone. The Firestone itself had apparently just been acquired by ClubCorp.

KSL already owned ski resorts like Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone—as well as the Doral Golf Resort & Spa .

There’s no word on what effect, if any, the sale will have on the Bridgestone WGC event held at Firestone.