Norwegian Cruise Line has managed to secure over $2 billion of additional liquidity to help it deal with the shut down of cruises.
Norwegian Cruise Line Secures Over $2 Billion
The cruise company which owns Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises announced it successfully secured over $2 billion of additional liquidity in response to impacts of the COVID- 19 global pandemic on the Company and the cruise industry, including the temporary suspension of voyages, and to safeguard against a further downside scenario.
Yesterday, the Company announced the launch of a series of capital markets transactions, led by Goldman Sachs, to raise approximately $2 billion. The transaction has since been upsized to gross proceeds of $2.225 billion ($2.4 billion if the underwriters exercise their full overallotment options) due to significant oversubscription and demand across all three offerings.
The transactions consisted of (1) $400 million public offering of common equity, (2) $750 million exchangeable senior notes offering, (3) $675 million senior secured notes offering and (4) $400 million private investment from global consumer-focused private equity firm L Catterton.
Contingent on completion of the transactions, the Company expects to have approximately $3.5 billion of liquidity. This significantly strengthens the Company’s financial position and liquidity runway and it now expects to be positioned to withstand well over 12 months of voyage suspensions in a potential downside scenario.
Also Read: When Will Each Cruise Line Resume Sailings Again?
While this is not the Company’s base case expectation, the Company has taken a swift and proactive approach to protect its future given the significant uncertainty and unknown duration of the COVID-19 global pandemic. When the transactions are completed, the additional liquidity alleviates management’s concern about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months.
The cruise company is currently suspending cruise operations through all of June with the first sailings set to begin again from July 1, 2020. However due to the constant changing situation the suspension could be extended even further.
