Cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line has just set the price range of its upcoming IPO.
Norwegian — which plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker of “NCLH” — plans to issue 23.5 million shares at a range of $16 to $18, which would amount to roughly $400 million. Lead underwriters include UBS Investment Bank (NYSE:UBS) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS).
NCL was founded in the mid-1960s and currently is the No. 3 cruise operator in North America, with 11 ships. It has earned some credit as an innovator, becoming the first cruise liner to create a private island.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2012, NCLH posted revenues of $2.26 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $540.4 million, both trumping respective figures of $1.73 billion and $417.8 million in the year-ago period.
The past year has seen strong returns by both Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL, +37%) and Carnival (NYSE:CCL, +13%), making the timing look as good as ever for Norwegian’s IPO.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook” and “High-Profit IPO Strategies: Finding Breakout IPOs for Investors and Traders.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.
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