Viking Holdings (VIK) has debuted strongly on the New York Stock Exchange, with the IPO price of $24 soon rising by over 10% to reach a high of $26.44 on Wednesday before falling back slightly.
Viking Holdings Enjoys A Successful Stock Market Debut
The IPO valued the cruise operator at $11.3bn, with over 431 million shares outstanding. By raising $1.54bn, the company had the most successful US IPO of 2024 so far. The IPO was underwritten by companies including J.P. Morgan, UBS and BofA Securities.
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VIK operates 92 vessels, with the majority catering to the luxury market on major European rivers such as the Danube and the Rhine. It mainly caters to wealthy American tourists looking to see the world in comfort and enjoy some culture at the same time. Viking CEO and chairman Torstein Hagen said:
We’re different because when you talk about the big cruise lines, they’re large in the Caribbean. We have a tiny sliver in the Caribbean. The rest is Europe.
Carnival (CCL) is the biggest name in the cruise industry, and its shares skyrocketed by 57% in the last 12 months. However, so far in 2024, the share price is down by 20%. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has also enjoyed a successful last year, with its share price rising by around a third. However, since the start of this year, the price has dropped by 6%.
With companies in the cruise transport industry taking longer than others to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts are divided over what the future holds in store for them.
