Viking Cruises considering a US IPO

[Cienfuegos]

The financial website Seeking Alpha notes a Bloomberg report that Viking Cruises is considering a public offering of shares in the US. The privately held company currently has two outside investors and a very expensive debt. Current debt has been issued at 9.25% interest. That replaced some older debt issued at 13%.

[FlyerTalker]

IPOs often indicate that the owners want to cash out, usually when there is high valuation.

 

Was the expansion too fast?  I'll leave it to others to speculate.

 

 

[CurlerRob]

24 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

IPOs often indicate that the owners want to cash out, usually when there is high valuation.

 

Possible, but in this case I suspect not the motivation. Tor has been in the business his entire working life and family is poised to continue on running it. I would think that if this happens, it's more about being able to reduce the cost of the debt.

 

Slightly torn on it, as it's a great investment for CPPIB (one of the two investors)! 🍺🥌

[Baron Barracuda]

I personally find this concerning.   Recently completed my first post-covid VO cruise where I was extremely relieved to find standards had not slipped from pre-covid days.  Can't say the same for most other lines.  Reading through CC threads for the various CCL, RCL and NCLH brands I see endless complaints about cutbacks and cost cutting as they seek to satisfy the demands of shareholders (of which I am one).  Back in the '90's I was a very happy, satisfied customer of Celebrity when they were privately owned.  Ever since their sale to RCL which brought them under public ownership their brand has deteriorated in the interest of maximizing near term earnings.  I wish for Viking to avoid a similar fate.

[Liz Masterson]

I’m worried for the employees. They seem to take care of their crew more generously than other cruise lines…

 

https://bnnbreaking.com/finance-nav/viking-cruises-eyes-500m-us-ipo-to-fuel-expansion-and-reduce-debt

[FoggyEthan]

Viking seems to have a dozen disconnected corporate entities, incorporated in countries around the entire world, that control things in ways that make it impossible to hold any piece legally responsible for almost anything. This is, of course, standard operating procedure, so I'm not singling out Viking. But which piece of Viking are we discussing is seeking to IPO?

 

I agree that it is worrying, since shareholders tend to seek short term results over long term success.

[CurlerRob]

Be calm. The news reports suggest an IPO of $500M - far, far less than that required to control the company.

 

As a different example, Tesla is fully public, but some guy (what's his name?) owns 20% and, last time I looked, ran the show. 🍺🥌

[Cienfuegos]

It's possible that TPG wants to cash out some of its investment, or that Viking wants to pay off more of its debt load.  Or perhaps the Chinese have some notes that Viking has to settle.

 

Hiring investment banking firms is often a sign that a firm is exploring interest. Not necessarily that they plan an immediate offering. If they are doing a public offering, they will file paperwork.