Great expectations: Norwegian hopes to corner the luxury market too
Norwegian Cruise Line – known for its big, bold and colourful ships – today announced it is to buy upmarket brands Oceania and Regent for $3.025billion.
The deal will help the company, the world’s third largest cruise operator, compete with bigger rivals Royal Caribbean and Carnival.
Oceania and Regent were owned by Prestige Cruises, part of the portfolio of Apollo Global Management, which also owns 20 per cent of Norwegian.
Norwegian’s chief executive, Kevin Sheehan, said: ‘Our complementary strengths and skill sets will pave the way for new cross-selling opportunities, cross-brand collaboration, cross-business support, as well as joint partnerships which, coupled with meaningful synergies that can be quickly implemented, will provide solid accretion to earnings per share and drive long-term shareholder value.’
Frank Del Rio will remain chief executive officer of Prestige, which operates eight ships and about 6,500 berths.
‘We are excited to become part of the Norwegian family and start a new chapter for our company,’ Mr Del Rio said.