US financial services giant Capital Group has sold down the lion's share of its investment in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings amid a retreat from cruise.
The firm, through equities division Capital World Investors, had once been the second-largest shareholder in the New York-listed cruiseship owner.
But a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows the outfit has joined investors fleeing the cruise sector beset by a pandemic that has led to a near complete halt in business.
Capital World said that it now owns nearly 1.35m shares of Miami-headquartered Norwegian, giving it just 0.5% of the company. At the latest price for Norwegian's shares, the position would be worth about $20.4m.
The holding disclosed in Tuesday's filing represents a cull of nearly 10.7m shares since Capital World reported in April that it held more than 12m shares, which represented a 5.7% stake.
The investment firm's sliver of the world's third-largest cruise company is a far cry from the 25.3m shares that it reported owning in July 2019, when it held 11.7%.
Second biggest
Earlier in 2019, Norwegian had listed the company as its second-largest shareholder when it had a 9.6% slice and the largest shareholder, The Vanguard Group, had 22.4m shares. That means Capital World may have spent a time as Norwegian's largest shareholder.
The sell-off comes as Norwegian's shares have struggled to recover from their crash in March, when the coronavirus forced the industry to pause operations.
The shares closed on Monday at $15.13 on the New York Stock Exchange. The figure is well above the low point of $7.03 in March, but it still represents a slump from the year high of $59.78 per share.
Capital Group could not be immediately reached before business hours at its Los Angeles headquarters on Tuesday.
The company is one of the world's largest investment firms, with more than $1.7trn in assets under management. It describes its investment approach as focused on "research, a long-term view and a recognition of the power of relationships".
Capital World's sell-off of its Norwegian shares follows similar moves in Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruiseship owner.
A securities filing in May showed that the firm held just 1.29m shares in Carnival. That is a sharp reduction from the more than 38.2m it reported holding just three months earlier.
But Capital World may have a more optimistic view of Royal Caribbean Group. The firm reported holding 2.28m Royal Caribbean shares in the May filing, which marks a substantial increase from the 93,000 shares held in February.
