Glenshee went into administration in May

The news that Glenshee will have a future has been greeted with delight and relief by neighbouring communities.

A spokesman for the group told the BBC that they were "delighted" an agreement with the centre's receivers, KPMG, had been reached.

The Glenshee resort was put up for sale after suffering a drop in business because of a lack of snow. Its sister centre at Glencoe was sold in June.

The group taking over is led by the resort's operations manager Graham McCabe.

We are just glad that we have managed to secure a continued skiing operation here Graham McCabe

He said the deal would secure six full-time jobs and up to 120 seasonal posts.

"Apart from that, the big positive has to be the continuation of skiing here at Glenshee.

"That brings a lot of winter enjoyment to a lot of people in this area," he said.

He said the deal had almost fallen through on Thursday over the lease of the land.

"It was touch and go. We were at the 12th hour, but we managed to pluck a deal out at the last minute so we are just glad that we have managed to secure a continued skiing operation here."

The resort operator, the Glenshee Chairlift Company, which also ran the Glencoe centre, went into receivership in May.

The resorts, which were put up for sale in February, suffered combined losses of approximately �1m in 2002/03 and 2003/04.

The chairman of Braemar Community Council, John Macpherson, said the take-over was "excellent news and a "huge relief".