MIAMI and MADRID, May 10,
2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
(NYSE: RCL or "Royal Caribbean") and Madrid-based private equity firm Springwater
Capital ("Springwater") today announced an agreement to form a
joint venture dedicated to bringing culturally authentic,
best-in-class cruise experiences tailored to Spanish and French
tourists through the management of the Pullmantur and Croisières de
France ("CDF") cruise brands.
As part of the terms of the agreement, RCL will sell a 51
percent stake in Pullmantur and CDF to Springwater. RCL will
have a 49 percent stake, and retain full ownership of the ships and
planes currently operated by Pullmantur and CDF, which will be
leased into the joint venture. RCL will also provide marine
operations services to Pullmantur and CDF through a management
agreement.
This joint venture expands on the successful, pre-existing
partnership between RCL and Springwater for the Wamos air
transport, travel agency, and tour operation businesses. This
investment also expands Springwater's existing tourism portfolio,
which includes airline and travel agency investments in
Spain, France and Portugal.
"Pullmantur and CDF have a long history of offering authentic,
localized cruise vacations to their home markets," said
Richard D. Fain, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Royal Caribbean. "We look forward to the new
focus that this joint venture with Springwater will bring to these
companies as they seek to grow."
Fain added: "Given the signs of recovery we have seen in the
Spanish economy, as well as increased interest in cruising from
tourists in France, we think this
is the right time to bring together the extensive experience of our
deeply valued employees at Pullmantur and CDF with the local travel
and tourism expertise of the Springwater team. Springwater's local
management presence in Madrid,
coupled with RCL's long-standing history in cruise operations, will
provide the foundation for improved returns in the future."
Martin Gruschka, Chief Executive
Officer of Springwater, added: "We are delighted to announce the
joint venture with Royal Caribbean, and look forward to working
with Pullmantur and CDF employees. The transaction leverages our
firm's travel sector expertise, and will take advantage of
Pullmantur and CDF's strong client and travel industry
relationships in the Spanish and French markets. These
relationships – paired with Royal Caribbean's cruise management –
will create the foundation for a successful, long-term strategic
partnership."
The joint venture is expected to be completed later this year,
subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory
approvals. It is expected to result in an immaterial one-time
gain, which will be excluded from RCL's key metrics. Given
the markets in which Pullmantur operates, the transaction is
expected to have partially offsetting impacts on yields and
expenses. The amount of these impacts will depend on when
regulatory approvals are received and the transaction closes, but
the net effect on the company's 2016 bottom line is expected to be
neutral to marginally positive.
About Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is a global cruise
vacation company that owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity
Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de
France, as well as TUI Cruises
through a 50 percent joint venture. Together, these six brands
operate a combined total of 46 ships with an additional ten on
order. They operate diverse itineraries around the world that call
on approximately 490 destinations on all seven continents.
Additional information can be found on, www.rclcorporate.com,
www.rclinvestor.com, www.royalcaribbean.com,
www.celebritycruises.com, www.pullmantur.es,
www.azamaraclubcruises.com, www.cdfcroisieresdefrance.com, or
www.tuicruises.com.
About Springwater Capital
Springwater Capital LLC is an independent private investment
firm founded in 2002. The company invests in different sectors
throughout Europe always working
closely with its portfolio companies' management in order to
achieve long-term sustainable returns. Springwater has performed
over 30 acquisitions and its current portfolio includes more than
20 platform companies with about €3bn in sales. In Spain Springwater has invested in companies
such as Wamos, Aernnova, Delion, Daorje, Nervión Industries
(Monesa), Fivemasa, Ceyde, Think Textil, Imtech, Peggy Sue's or SGEL. In the tourism sector,
Springwater has presence through affiliated companies in several
countries such as Spain,
Portugal, Italy, France
and selected locations in Africa.
Forward-Looking Statements and Disclosures
Certain statements in this release relating to, among other
things, our future performance constitutes forward-looking
statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements
regarding the expected impact of the new joint venture on our
business and our financial results for 2016 and the costs and
yields expected in 2016 and other future periods. Words such as
"anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goal,"
"intend," "may," "plan," "project," "seek," "should," "will," and
similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current
expectations, are inherently uncertain and are subject to risks,
uncertainties and other factors, which could cause our actual
results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in
those forward-looking statements. Examples of these risks,
uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to the
following: the impact of the economic and geopolitical environment
on key aspects of our business, such as the demand for cruises,
passenger spending, our operating costs and our ability to obtain
new borrowings in amounts sufficient to satisfy our capital
expenditures, debt repayments and other financing needs, incidents
or adverse publicity concerning the cruise vacation industry,
concerns over safety, health and security aspects of traveling,
unavailability of ports of call, the uncertainties of conducting
business internationally and expanding into new markets and new
ventures, changes in operating and financing costs, the impact of
foreign exchange rates, interest rate and fuel price fluctuations,
vacation industry competition and changes in industry capacity and
overcapacity, the impact of new or changing regulations on our
business, emergency ship repairs, including the related lost
revenue, the impact of ship delivery delays, ship cancellations or
ship construction price increases, shipyard unavailability and the
unavailability or cost of air service.
More information about factors that could affect our operating
results is included under the captions "Risk Factors" and
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations" in our most recent annual report on Form
10-K, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor
Relations web site at www.rclinvestor.com or the SEC's web site at
www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the
forward-looking statements in this release, which are based on
information available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
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SOURCE Royal Caribbean