NEW YORK: Viking Holdings Ltd priced its initial public offering (IPO) near the top of a marketed range to raise US$1.54bil for the luxury cruise operator and two investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

Viking and the investors sold 64.04 million shares for US$24 apiece, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public yet.

Best known for its art and history-rich river tours of Europe, Viking had marketed the shares for US$21 to US$25 each. It increased the number of shares offered by private equity firm TPG Inc and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at the time of the pricing to 53.04 million, the people said.

The size of the potential over-allotment was also increased to 9.6 million shares, the people said. A representative for TPG declined to comment, while Viking and CPPIB didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The two investors had already increased the number of shares offering to 42 million ahead of the pricing, while the company had marketed 11 million shares.

At the IPO price, Viking will have a market value of US$10.4bil based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Viking’s founder, chairman and chief executive officer Torstein Hagen, will continue to control the company with his daughter Karine Hagen, exercising 87% of the company’s voting power.

TPG and CPPIB will each control 4.5% of votes.

Founded in 1997, Viking operates cruises around the world and has 92 vessels, according to the filing. It has more than 10,000 employees in over 90 countries.

While the company has expanded beyond its original tours of rivers such as the Danube and the Rhine, it continues to cater to older, wealthier travellers seeking “more than just a vacation”, Torstein said in the company’s prospectus.

“We maintain a clear focus on our most relevant customer group - English-speaking travellers aged 55 and over, who have the time, money and desire to explore the world,” Torstein wrote.

“We do not try to be all things to all people, which is why we only offer a single-language experience on board our ships - there are no casinos and children under 18 are not allowed.”

Viking is the second-biggest consumer-oriented company to go public on a US exchange this year, after the US$1.57bil listing by Amer Sports Inc in January.

Since then, an assortment of tech, health-related and industrial businesses have held IPOs, raising more than US$13bil, not including Viking.

Bermuda-based Viking is joining its publicly traded peers Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd Royal Caribbean, the largest of them with a market value of about US$37bil, is the only one of the three whose shares have climbed back to where they started before the pandemic.

In 2022, Viking reported a profit of US$399mil on US$3.2bil of revenue, which rose sharply compared to the previous two years as the pandemic ebbed.

Last year, the company lost US$1.8bil as revenue grew to US$4.7bil.

The filings showed adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortisation of US$1.09bil for 2023, which included a gain of about US$2bil from the re-measurement of derivatives associated with preference shares that will convert with the IPO.

Viking’s offering is being led by Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co, UBS Group AG and Wells Fargo & Co.

Viking’s shares were expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VIK.

 -Bloomberg