Flims, Laax, and Falera to take over tourist facilities for 50 million Swiss francs

Flims, Laax, Falera, September 24, 2025. The municipalities of Flims, Laax, and Falera are to protect the tourist infrastructure on the mountain owned by Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG from a possible sale and take it over by forming a joint company. The mountain railways and lifts, mountain restaurants, operating buildings, and avalanche protection facilities are then to be leased from Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG and continued to be operated. Together, the municipalities are to raise CHF 50 million for this purpose. Referendums on the project will take place at the end of October.

In order to protect the facilities on the mountain owned by Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG, a subsidiary of the Weisse Arena Group in Laax, from a possible sale to outside investors, they are to be sold to the local company Finanz Infra AG. Finanz Infra AG has owned snow-making equipment since 2005. It now also plans to take over the remaining tourist infrastructure on the mountain and lease it to Weisse Arena. Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG will continue to operate the facilities and cover all costs. As the lessee, it will bear all of Finanz Infra's expenses and finance the depreciation necessary for the maintenance and replacement of facilities. The lease agreement also stipulates a minimum operating period of 300 days per year and the continuation of discounts for locals.

The facilities are to be acquired at a residual book value of CHF 94.5 million. The municipalities of Flims, Laax, and Falera are to co-finance the acquisition with a total of CHF 50 million. Laax will contribute CHF 20 million, Falera CHF 10 million, and Flims CHF 2 million plus CHF 18 million that it had already contributed earlier to the construction of the FlemX railway
. Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG is granting Finanz Infra a loan of CHF 20 million, and CHF 42.5 million is to be financed with borrowed capital. As part of the proposal, Finanz Infra AG is to be taken over in full by the three municipalities. Flims, Laax, and Falera will vote on their respective contributions at the end of October.

"The business model is called 'sell and lease back'," said project manager Adrian Wolf to the media on Wednesday. "The municipalities and the Weisse Arena Group have been operating it for 20 years with the snow-making equipment. Now we want to apply the model consistently and extend it to the entire infrastructure on the mountain."

"Fair, balanced, and reasonable"

The initiative to secure the infrastructure came from the three municipalities, emphasized Franz Gschwend, mayor of Laax and chairman of the board of Finanz Infra AG. The tourist infrastructure on the mountain is systemically important, and the region and its tourism industry depend on it not falling into the hands of outside investors. Norbert Good, mayor of Falera, considers the valuation of the facilities at their residual book value to be fair. Although the takeover project is a big undertaking for the municipalities, it is balanced and reasonable. Christoph Schmidt, mayor of Flims, emphasized that the municipalities have been working very well with the Weisse Arena Group for decades and that the Finanz Infra model has also been functioning flawlessly for 20 years.

Reto Gurtner confirmed that various financial and tourism investors are interested in acquiring a stake in or taking over the Weisse Arena Group. However, the president and delegate of the Weisse Arena Group believes it is right that such important infrastructure should be operated in the long term in the overall interests of the region. He therefore prefers a solution involving the municipalities, even if there may have been higher offers in the short term. Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG will pay enough rent that the municipalities will not have to provide additional financial assistance, even in the case of larger investments. This has been the case with the snow-making facilities for a long time.

The referendums in the three municipalities:

• Falera municipal assembly: October 23, 2025
• Laax municipal assembly: Friday, October 24, 2025
• Ballot vote in Flims: Sunday, October 26, 2025

The voting messages are published on the municipalities' websites:

• www.gemeindeflims.ch/aktuellesinformationen
• laax-gr.ch/en/news/information-municipality/
• www.falera.net/aktuell/publikationen/