CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Leslie Otten, the owner of North America’s largest ski resort company, is making his empire a little bigger.

Otten, who already owns 51 percent of Sugarloaf/USA, plans to buy the remaining 49 percent this summer.

He said the purchase of the remainder of Sugarloaf stock was part of an agreement that was made when SKI Ltd. — which Otten recently purchased — bought part of Sugarloaf two years ago.

When Otten closed the deal Friday to buy SKI Ltd., he exercised an option allowing him to own Sugarloaf outright.

Most of the remaining 49 percent will be sold by Warren Cook, president and general manager at Sugarloaf. Cook said he’ll remain at Sugarloaf.

Cook called Otten’s purchase “the culmination of a deal I made a couple of years ago to find a partner. Once I was comfortable with the right partner, I would sell my shares and be comfortable that the future of the company would be stable.

“What [SKI and Otten] bring to the table is exactly what I’ve been looking for — leadership, financial stability, marketing strength and real estate strength,” Cook said.

Otten says his purchase wouldn’t have any impact at the ski resort.

Before buying SKI, Otten and his Newry-based LBO Enterprises already owned Sunday River in Newry; Sugarbush in Vermont; and Attitash Bear Peak Cranmore in New Hampshire.

Along with Sugarloaf, the SKI resorts added Killington, Mount Snow and Haystack in Vermont, and Waterville Valley in New Hampshire.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice told Otten he would have to sell the Waterville Valley and Mount Cranmore resorts in order to go ahead with the deal. The sale of the two New Hampshire resorts is designed to preserve competition in the New England ski industry.