Reuters is reporting that Norwegian Cruise Line is nearing a deal to acquire Prestige Cruises International Inc for $3 billion. Norwegian is currently the third largest cruise operator in the world and the deal would give the cruise line a part of the luxury cruise market.
Prestige Cruises operates the luxury cruise lines Oceania and Regent brands. They have a combined 8 luxury cruise ships and posted revenue of $1.2 billion in 2013. Both Norwegian and Prestige are based in Miami, Florida.
An agreement is expected to be announced this week and would give Norwegian a market value of $6.8 billion. By comparison, Carnival Corp. has a market cap of $29.4 billion and Royal Caribbean $14.1 billion.
The deal would give Norwegian access to affluent clientele as they compete with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The 3 cruise lines currentlyveaccount for 82% of the North American cruise passenger berth capacity.
Neither Norwegian nor Prestige have made any comments about the deal. Since negotiations are not public, the sources asked not to be identified and have said that talks could still fall apart before a deal is reached.
Norwegian Cruise Line currently has 13 cruise ships that sail to destinations in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, North America, Central America, and the Baltic.
Cruise Fever will have all updates as more information about the deal to acquire Prestige Cruises becomes available.
Photo Credit: Regent Seven Seas Cruises
