Carnival Corp. and Spain-based Orizonia
Corp. signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture under
Orizonia's Iberojet Cruceros brand.
The joint company
would be valued at $417 million, with $235 million in debt, leaving
a net capital value of $182 million. Carnival would own 75% and
Orizonia 25%.
The agreement would
transfer Iberojet Cruceros' existing fleet to the joint venture
company and grow the fleet over the next several years.
Iberojet's fleet
now consists of two cruise ships, the 834-passenger Grand Voyager
and the 1,196-passenger Grand Mistral, which the companies say are
the newest ships in the Spanish cruise market.
For Carnival, the
venture would be an opportunity to expand into the Spanish tourism
market, which Carnival Chairman and CEO Micky Arison called "one of
the fastest-growing segments of the European vacation
industry."
The transaction is
expected to close in second-quarter 2007 if approved by both
companies' boards of directors and the relevant regulatory bodies.
Carnival reported that it expects the transaction to be neutral to
its earnings for the 12-month period following the closing of the
deal.
Pier Luigi Foschi,
chairman and CEO of Carnival's Costa Cruises unit, would serve as
chairman of the board of the joint venture. The existing management
of Iberojet Cruceros would continue operating the company, with its
president, Alfredo Serrano, reporting to the board of the new
company.
To
contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].