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US financial powerhouse to acquire Iberostar30/5/2006The Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group has agreed to acquire the Spanish travel giant Grupo Iberostar from its owners, the Fluxa family, at a price of €900m, according to media reports in Palma de Mallorca. The transaction is expected to close within 45 days, following competitive bidding among four private equity firms, orchestrated by investment bankers Lazard Freres, which reportedly received the selling mandate in early February.
Iberostar Cruises, which operates Grand Mistral and Grand Voyager, would be included in the transaction, along with Grupo Iberostar's airline operations and chain of travel agencies in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The Fluxa family plans, however, to retain control of Iberostar's hotel operations.
Like most private equity firms, Carlyle typically upgrades the operations of companies it acquires before selling them to long-term owners.
In this instance, the modest size of Iberostar's cruise activities against a backdrop of strong growth in the Spanish-sourced market suggests two logical alternatives: To expand, as Pullmantur Cruises has recently done in growing to an operation of six vessels, or to exit the sector entirely if it is seen as non-strategic for the overall group.
With $39bn under its management, the Carlyle Group clearly has the resources to go either way.
Pam
http://www.grupoiberostar.com
One thing more, RCCL have been negotiation with Pullmantur Cruises last winter.
[ 05-31-2006: Message edited by: cruceromania ]
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quote:Originally posted by cruceromania:One thing more, RCCL have been negotiation with Pullmantur Cruises last winter.
quote:cruceromania wrote:I would prefer at least an independient spanish group, Pullmantur?
I agree, it would be best if there were no takeovers and there was at least one independent Spanish cruise company, but if you had no choice and had to pick between: RCCL, Carnival Corp, Star/NCL and MSC, to takeover whoever was left in the Spanish market, who would it be?
quote:Originally posted by Joe1690:I am not very familiar with these smaller cruiselines operated in Europe since I am from the United States and they tend not to be marketed here. However, does Iberojet have more new ships than Pullmantur or is it vice versa?
Pullmantur has a bigger fleet: HOLIDAY DREAM, SS OCEANIC, SKY WONDER (ex. PACIFIC SKY), and one or two R-ships.
I guess they both have the same number of "new" ships, but Pullmantur has more berths.
Star may take it over to gain more ships, but i dont think the Spanish market would be on their horizons!
quote:gpcruisedude wrote:I would say RCCL would be a good candidate to take over Iberojet, or even MSC...they could do well with the company and break into the Spanish Market and get the Mistral which is from the same company two of their other ships are from the former Festival Cruises! The Grand Voyageur would be an interesting addition to the MSC fleet too.Star may take it over to gain more ships, but i dont think the Spanish market would be on their horizons!
I would prefer MSC as they are European, but I don’t think they would be interested, for two main reasons: 1. MSC already has a good relationship with the Spanish market (and also a foothold in the Med): 2. MSC doesn’t usually buy out others. Also I don’t see GRAND VOYAGER in the MSC fleet. GRAND MISTRAL maybe, but she was rejected by MSC at the time of auction.
RCCL and Star would both be good candidates. Don’t discount Star, a purchase would make a good starting point for a physical entry into Europe. It would all depend on what both these companies get from buying the cruise arm of Iberojet.
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