By Gillian Tan, Amy Or, Ryan Gould and Paula Sambo
Viking Cruises is considering a US initial public offering that could raise $500 million or more, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The travel company is working with Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase Co., UBS Group AG and Wells Fargo Co. on the potential listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. An IPO may come as soon as the second quarter, they said.
Deliberations are ongoing and details of the possible first-time share sale, including the size and timing could change, the people said.
Representatives for Bank of America, JPMorgan, UBS and Wells Fargo declined to comment, while Viking didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Viking was founded by chairman Torstein Hagen in 1997 and operates cruises on rivers, lakes and oceans across the globe. The company’s operational headquarters is in Basel, Switzerland, and its sales and marketing headquarters is in Woodland Hills.
The company has about $4.7 billion in debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Viking is backed by private equity firm TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which together invested about $500 million in additional capital in November 2020, after first investing in 2016.
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