Royal Caribbean Group is offering to sell another $1.5bn in common shares in its ongoing effort to shore up its balance sheet after racking up billions of dollars in debt brought on by Covid-19.
The Richard Fain-led cruise major has priced 16.4m shares at $91 each with the intent of raising $1.54bn in liquidity for "general corporate purposes", the company said.
Morgan Stanley is acting as underwriter for the offering, enabled through a shelf registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
New York-listed Royal Caribbean late last year sold 8.33m notes at $60 each to pad its coffers by $500m after already selling $7.5bn in debt since March 2020.
The Miami-based owner of 52 ships has also taken out $2.9bn in credit facilities last year to offset a 2020 deficit totalling $5.8bn.
By comparison, Royal Caribbean posted a $1.9bn profit for all of 2019, marking a record year for both company and industry.
Royal Caribbean estimates its cash burn to be, on average, in the range of $250m to $290m per month. It had liquidity of about $4.4bn as of 31 December, including $3.7bn in cash and a $700m 364-day credit facility.
The company said about 75% of bookings made for 2021 are new and 25% are due to redemption of cruise credits.
As of 31 December, Royal Caribbean had $1.8bn in customer deposits, half of which are related to cruise credits.
Since the March 2020 fleet suspension, about 53% of guests booked on cancelled sailings have asked for cash refunds.
Royal Caribbean shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RCL, gained 2.6% to reach $93.68 by late afternoon on Tuesday.
