Cruise ship management company Carnival is in preliminary discussions to sell its luxury cruise brand Seabourn to Public Investment Fund Saudi.
Sources told CNBC that talks between the two parties are still ongoing, and if completed, a deal of this size will give Saudi Arabia a stronger footprint in the cruise industry, at a time when travel continues to recover throughout the Middle East, according to what Al Arabiya has seen. net”.
The sources also added that Carnival Company will be a big beneficiary through the huge financing that it will receive, as its shares have lost more than 40% in the past three months.
The talks to sell Seabourn come less than a week after Carnival raised more than $1 billion from the debt market at a yield of 10%.
The Seabourn brand was established in 1988 and operates 6 vessels. Its destinations extend from Antarctica to the Middle East and the Caribbean.
The Public Investment Fund bought a stake in Carnival at the height of the pandemic in 2020. It currently has a 5.1% stake, according to FactSet.
The deal comes amid a large trend from private equity firms towards investing in cruises. In March 2021, Royal Caribbean sold its Azamara cruise brand to Sycamore Partners for $201 million. TPG and the Apollo Group also invested billions in Norwegian Cruise Line in 2008, which eventually led to the launch of the cruise operator in 2013. Currently, TPG invests in Viking Cruise, while Bain Capital is the lead investor in Virgin Voyage.