Viking Holdings debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday in the biggest U.S. initial public offering of the year so far, according to Renaissance Capital.
The IPO raised around $1.5 billion and is the largest IPO since Arm Holdings in September, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm.
The luxury cruise operator's offering price of $24 per share put the estimated market value around $10.3 billion. BofA Securities and JPMorgan are the lead underwriters on the deal.
Shares, which use the symbol VIK, started trading Wednesday around 12:45 ET. The IPO opened at 26.15 per share and closed at 26.10.
Viking Cruises offers luxury river, ocean and lake cruises across the globe, but focuses primarily on Europe and the Mediterranean. Its upscale niche experiences feature art, science, history, culture and cuisine to a target audience of wealthy older Americans.
Viking was founded in 1997 and currently owns 92 vessels. Its European river cruise ships have an average capacity of 190 passengers and its larger ocean ships hold 930 passengers. This pales compared to the 3,000 passenger load of the average cruise ship.
Demand Looks Strong For Viking Cruises
Cruise demand is expected to grow from 31.5 million cruise travelers in 2023 to 35.7 million in 2024, according to Expedia Cruises. Cruise line stocks were some of the leading stocks in 2023 but have lagged in 2024.
Viking will be competing with Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Carnival.
Norwegian stock plunged 15% in heavy volume on Wednesday after the cruise line reported higher-than-expected first-quarter adjusted earnings but sales that missed views. Norwegian reported record bookings as cruise demand remained strong.
Carnival and Royal Caribbean fell in sympathy with Norwegian.
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