News

Fincantieri prices IPO at floor of €0.78 per share, government investment company not selling shares

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 30 June 2014 30 June 2014

Fincantieri, the Italian state controlled shipbuilder, has placed its initial public offering (IPO) at €0.78 per share, the floor of the €0.78 to €1.00 range it had indicated earlier. The company will only offer 450 million shares out of a maximum of 703.9 million that it had planned to sell.

“Fintecna S.p.A., in its capacity as Selling Shareholder, will not sell any Shares in the Global Offering. An Overallotment option for 50,000,000 Shares will be granted by Fintecna S.p.A,” Fincantieri said.

Fintecna is a holding company that belongs to Cassa depositi e prestiti, an Italian investment company in which the government has a 80.1% stake.

Trading in the shares of Fincantieri will start on 3 July.

TUI AG and listed subsidiary TUI Travel plc to merge

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 28 June 2014 28 June 2014

The German travel group TUI AG and TUI Travel plc, the London based listed tour company in which the German company is the biggest shareholder, will merge. The merged company would be called TUI AG and it would be domiciled in Germany and listed on both London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

“If the Merger is consummated, it would bring together the content portfolio of hotels and cruise ships of TUI AG with access to customers through the distribution capability and unique holiday concepts of TUI Travel,” TUI AG said in a statement.

TUI AG owns Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, the German destinational to luxury cruise operator in full and has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based premium market operator. TUI Travel owns Thomson Cruises with five ships that cater for the UK market plus Quark Expeditions, the boutique cruise brand. It is also the owner of Intercruises, the shoreside services provider to the cruise industry. Both copmpanies' travel shops are major retailers of cruises in Europe.

The merger would create a pure play integrated leisure travel Group that is a global leader, capable of delivering a complete end-to-end customer experience, thereby significantly enhancing the Group’s growth opportunities and capability for delivering material financial benefits.

TUI AG owns the most recognised travel brand in Europe. With over 230 hotels and more than 155,000 beds it is Europe’s largest holiday hotelier while its cruise operation is one of Europe’s most successful. Having rationalised its businesses through oneTUI it has ambitious growth plans to double the size of its content.

TUI Travel’s leisure tourism business operates as a single organisation across Europe with a portfolio of tour operator brands servicing more than 30 million customers. Having differentiated itself from the rest of the industry, its growth is focused on the continued development of unique holidays, which are available exclusively through its brands, distributed directly through its own channels with significant numbers of its customers flying on its modern holiday airline fleet.

Meyer Werft targets order for two major cruise ships – report

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 26 June 2014 26 June 2014

Joseph L. Meyer Werft, the German privately owned shipbuilder that is a leading builder of cruise liners, is close to winning an order for two major cruise ships, a German media report says.

“It concerns options for the construction of two further cruise liners. Therefore, the deal is not finalised yet,” the Ostfriesen Zeitung daily reported on its website. The planned vessels would be completed in 2018 and 2019.

The paper cited talks between the management and staff of the shipbuilder that were held earlier this week

At the moment, Meyer Werft is building two 163,000 gross ton Breakway plus class ships for Norwegian Cruise Line, the Miami based contemporary market operator, three 167,800 gross ton Quantum class vessels for Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) and two ships for Star Cruises.