NEWRY – American Skiing has announced that it has begun shifting senior management and other corporate positions from Maine to Utah, confirming a move that was rumored for months.

The financial troubled ski resort operator said it is locating about 45 jobs in Park City, Utah, in order to focus more attention on its resorts in the western United States.

“Our decision to move certain strategic functions was made to allow the company to more effectively concentrate on opportunities at our western resorts,” said B.J. Fair, American Skiing’s CEO.

The company’s senior management, accounting, finance and corporate communications departments should be operating in Utah by the fall. But only about five or six jobs currently housed at the firm’s Newry headquarters will be moved, said spokesman Eric Preusse.

American Skiing will keep about 40 corporate positions in Newry, where the company got its start in the 1970s.

“We’re not laying off anyone as a result of this move,” Preusse said. “We’re going to work to make sure that there are no job losses.”

Fair and Mark Miller, the company’s chief financial officer, have already established offices in Utah, Preusse said.

American Skiing sees its Park City resort as a major growth opportunity. The company has invested heavily in The Canyons since buying it in 1997.

The bulk of the company’s operations and skier visits, however, remain in New England, where founder Les Otten bought Sunday River in Newry with $840,000 that he borrowed from its owner. Over the next 20 years, Sunday River’s attendance shot up from 40,000 to half a million.

American Skiing became one of North America’s largest ski resort operators as its holdings grew from the one resort to nine that stretched from New England to California.

But the company has struggled since it went public in November 1997. Its stock plunged so low that it was removed from the New York Stock Exchange in March. It now trades over the counter.

American Skiing still carries high debt loads even after selling Sugarbush in Vermont and Heavenly on the Nevada-California line in an effort to pay off debts.

Last week, the company posted net income of $26.4 million for the third-quarter ended April 28. But two real estate subsidiaries have defaulted on loans.

The company’s core real estate subsidiary failed to make required payments on more than $63 million in loans from lenders led by Fleet National Bank. And its hotel development subsidiary is in default with Textron Financial Corp.