The tussle for the follow-on business from Star Cruises' acquisition of Norwegian Cruise Lines has taken an interesting turn. The $1.8 billion acquisition was advised by ABN Amro, which offered a bridge loan to finance the transaction. The assumption was that ABN would then do the follow-on business û a syndicated loan and a new equity offering. Maybe not, it seems.
ThereÆs a lot of talk these days about synergies and financial supermarkets. The idea is to offer clients every range of service and collect a fee every step of the way. In this case, ABN Amro said it wanted to arrange the $600 million loan and secure it against the companyÆs ships. Star, a part of the Genting Group of Malaysia, baulked at this requirement.
At this point, HSBC and Barclays stepped in and offered to arrange the loan without the ships as security. HSBC's offer of a loan appears to have paid dividends as it has also won the mandate, with CSFB, to launch the $600 million equity raising for Star.
ABN Amro is still angling to get back into the deals, and promises new information will be forthcoming.
