Cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line surges in 1st day of trading on the Nasdaq
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line skyrocketed more than 30 per cent in its first day as a publicly traded company.
The cruise operator's stock gained $5.83, or 30.7 per cent, to $24.83 in morning trading Friday. The stock opened at $25.10, 32 per cent above the $19 offering price of the shares.
The pricing of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.'s initial public offering of about 23.5 million shares came in above the expected range of $16 to $18 per share.
The offering raised about $446.5 million.
Norwegian joins other publicly traded cruise operators including Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Carnival Corp. The company said in a regulatory filing that it plans to use the offering's net proceeds to redeem or prepay outstanding debt as well as pay expenses related to the IPO.
Norwegian is giving the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 3.5 million shares.
For the twelve months ended Sept. 30, the Miami company's net income was $165.6 million on revenue of $2.26 billion.
It is trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the "NCLH" ticker symbol.
Norwegian sails its 11 vessels on itineraries in North America, Bermuda, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Baltic.
