Royal Caribbean Group has offered another $1bn in notes as it digs itself out from underneath billions of dollars of Covid-19 debt that is facing major cruise ship owners.
The Jason Liberty-led owner began a private offering of senior unsecured debt securities due in 2027 on Monday to start repaying several billions of dollars in notes that were sold in 2020 and mature in 2022 and 2023.
Before paying off those bonds, New York-listed Royal Caribbean said it may temporarily use the proceeds from the note sale to pay back money borrowed from revolving credit facilities or other borrowings.
The new offering comes a week after Miami-based cruise major issued $1.15bn in convertible senior notes, with a 6% coupon rate, in a private offering after upsizing a private $1.04bn offer made on 1 August.
The company offered those notes, which will mature in 2025, so that it could repurchase $350m in convertible senior notes that are due in November 2023 and carry a 2.88% interest rate, in addition to $800m in convertible senior notes due in June 2023 with a 4.25% interest rate.
The company, which is $20bn in hock, is one of three US-based cruise behemoths that are fending off $70bn in total debt, thanks to a pandemic that shut down the entire sector for two years.
Carnival Corp offered $1bn in common stock on 20 July in its latest effort to stay current on $35.1bn in looming debt.
In late July, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings extended a $1bn loan facility with Apollo Global Management to the end of March 2023 to provide more liquidity while it faces $13.6bn in debt.
