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A subsidiary of Anschutz?Corporation run by US billionaire entrepreneur Philip Anschutz has won an auction to buy Windstar?Cruises, the operator of three luxury sailing yachts, with a $39 million cash offer.

Windstar parent Ambassadors International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, having already worked out an agreement for private investment company Whippoorwill to buy the business.

Whippoorwill had agreed to provide $10 million in new financing under a debtor-in-possession credit facility.? But TAC Cruise, a subsidiary of Anschutz Corporation, submitted a better offer to a bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Anschutz owns a number of US sports venues and franchises as well as Xanterra Parks & Resorts, which provides accommodation at national parks, including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

The Windstar purchase is the Denver-based organisation’s first move in the cruise sector. Two of Windstar’s yachts accommodate 148 passengers and the third has cap