Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings sold almost all the bonds it had put up for sale in a $600m offering.
The New York-listed cruise major sold $593m worth of the notes with an 8.375% coupon rate after closing the offering on Friday.
The senior secured notes will mature in 2028 and are backed by 13 owned ships that also secure the company’s $875m senior secured revolving credit facility.
The cruiseship owner will use the proceeds from the offer to repay outstanding term loans under the $875m loan that would have become due in January 2024, including unpaid interest, premiums, fees and expenses.
The offering was originally set at $500m on 19 January but Norwegian upsized it to $600m that same day.
The florida company currently has $12bn in long-term debt as a result of the pandemic that shut down the entire cruise sector for more than two years.
Its peers are also dealing with billions of dollars of debt as a result of earning zero revenue during that time.
New York-listed Carnival Corp’s debt stands at $35bn, while New York-listed Royal Caribbean Group owes about $20bn.
These Miami-based “Big Three” cruise behemoths are seeing robust bookings due to pent-up demand as the pandemic faded away, but they are expected to wrestle with the Covid-19 debt for years to come.
