Star Cruises has signed a $600 million, five-year loan facility with a syndicate of 16 banks and will pay interest on this of 100-150 basis points over six-month Libor depending on the company's interest cover, says Gerard Lim Ewe Keng, vice-president for corporate planning at Star Cruises. The facility, arranged by HSBC and Barclays Capital, refinances a $600 million bridging loan taken out to finance the $1.9 billion acquisition of Norwegian Cruise LinesNCL earlier this year.
The new medium-term loan paves the way for Star Cruises to proceed with an initial public offering IPO on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Financial sources suggest the IPO, which is being handled by...
