April 30 (Reuters) - Cruise operator Viking Holdings
on Tuesday priced its initial public offering (IPO)
within its targeted range at $24 per share, confirming a Reuters
report on the matter.
The company previously aimed to price its IPO between $21
and $25 apiece.
The IPO raised $1.54 billion based on 64.04 million shares
sold by the company and its existing investors. It infers a
valuation of $10.35 billion on Viking, making it the biggest
U.S. stock market debut of 2024.
Viking upsized its IPO on Monday and said it would target a
valuation of more than $10 billion.
Viking's IPO comes as the U.S. IPO market is showing
signs of a rebound, after stock market flotations froze up
during most of 2022 and 2023.
IPO hopefuls have been boosted by the successful stock
market listings of social media platform Reddit ( RDDT ),
semiconductor connectivity firm Astera Labs ( ALAB ) and
cybersecurity software firm Rubrik ( RBRK ) in recent weeks.
Viking, founded in 1997, started out with four river vessels
and now owns a fleet of 92, allowing customers to book voyages
to destinations including Antarctica and the Arctic. Viking
generated revenue of $4.7 billion in 2023 and currently has more
than 10,000 employees in over 90 countries.
It counts private equity firms TPG and Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board among its prominent investors.
Shares of the company will start trading on the New York
Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol "VIK".
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, UBS Investment Bank, Wells
Fargo, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters on
Viking's offering.