By Andrew Bary
Viking Cruises turned European river travel into a lucrative business by catering to affluent older Americans interested in culture, art, and history. As Viking's tagline says, "Exploring the World in Comfort." Now, parent Viking Holdings plans to go public on May 1, selling 44 million shares, raising $1 billion, and valuing the company at some $10 billion.
The Viking experience is the antithesis of the boozy fun marketed by big cruise lines on massive ships. Prices are higher. No children under 18 are allowed on Viking vessels -- 55+ is the focus on river cruises -- and no casinos. Founded in 1997, Viking became synonymous with European river travel through shrewd marketing, notably sponsoring PBS' Masterpiece Theater and its hit series Downton Abbey. Viking now operates 92 vessels, including 58 of its flat, river long-ships carrying 190 passengers each. It moved into the ocean market in 2015.
Viking's timing is good. Investors have gravitated toward luxury stocks such as Ferrari and Hermès. The offering, with the ticker VIK, will represent a score for CEO Torstein Hagen and for TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Before the IPO, Hagen owned about 54% of the company, with TPG and CPP at roughly 21% each.
Viking has ambitious growth plans, but there are challenges. There are only so many rivers to ply, and luxury is relative. Luxury travel specialist Tauck, for instance, notes on its website that its riverboats carry no more than 130 guests.
--Andrew Bary
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
Last Week
Markets
Bitcoin "halved" on April 19, cutting in half the supply of new Bitcoins. Indexes broke a losing streak as the week began, struggled on rate fears, and plunged after March growth data came in low. March inflation mirrored February, but by then tech was driving a Friday rally. On the week, the Dow industrials eked out a 0.67% gain, the S&P 500 was up 2.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite, 4.23%.
Companies
Congress passed and President Biden signed aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and told ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban. Tesla missed profit and revenue expectations, while promising more-affordable models and robotaxis. General Motors beat expectations and raised guidance; Ford Motor also beat. Meta Platforms beat but fell hard on weak guidance and AI ambitions. Alphabet and Microsoft beat expectations. The Federal Trade Commission voted to ban most noncompete agreements.
Deals
Blackstone bid $1.5 billion to buy music-rights investor Hipgnosis, only to have Apollo Global--backed Concord top it by a penny a share...Talks between Salesforce and Informatica foundered over price...The FTC sued to block Tapestry's $8.5 billion buy of Capri Holdings, which owns Versace. The FTC claims the deal would raise handbag prices... IBM, after a mixed earnings call, said it was buying software firm HashiCorp for $6.4 billion...BHP made a $39 billion all-stock offer for Anglo American, which is mulling a sale of its De Beers unit. Anglo rejected the BHP bid.
Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com
Next Week
Tuesday 4/30
It's the busiest week of first-quarter earnings season, as more than 150 S&P 500 index companies are scheduled to publish their results. Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon.com, Eli Lilly, and Super Micro Computer will be Tuesday's highlights. Apple reports on Thursday.
Wednesday 5/1
The Federal Reserve's policy committee is overwhelmingly expected to keep the federal-funds rate unchanged at a target range of 5.25% to 5.50%. At his postmeeting news conference, Chairman Jerome Powell may describe plans to slow the pace of the Fed's balance sheet reduction later this year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. Economists' consensus calls for 8.7 million job openings on the last business day of March. There are currently 1.3 job openings for every unemployed person, down from a peak above two in 2022.
Friday 5/3
Economists are expecting to see an average gain of 210,000 nonfarm payrolls in April, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics' employment report. That would be a downshift from the 303,000 added in February. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 3.8%.
The Numbers
6 M
The average daily number of trades handled by Charles Schwab in the first quarter, up 15% from 2023's fourth.
$107 B
The value of technology M&A in the first quarter, the most since the second quarter of 2022.
26%
The growth of the data-center space in 2023, not including a record amount now under construction.
23.6%
The percentage of global gross domestic product accounted for by the U.S., highest in two decades.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 26, 2024 21:30 ET (01:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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