Star Cruises Bids for Rest of Norwegian

Asia’s leading cruise line, Star Cruises, launched a surprise $1.1-billion bid for the rest of Norwegian Cruise Line, a day after industry leader Carnival Corp. gave up on its buyout offer. Star bought a nearly 40% stake in NCL this week in what was seen as a friendly attempt to block an unsolicited takeover effort by Miami-based Carnival. Carnival said it will allow its $1.7-billion offer for NCL Holdings’ Norwegian line to expire next week. NCL’s board had urged shareholders to reject Carnival’s bid. Star had said earlier this week that it had no intention of bidding for all of NCL but was interested in building an alliance with NCL, which is also based in Miami but is Norwegian-owned. On Friday, however, Star said it increased its share of NCL to 50.2% and was offering $4.37 a share for the remaining stock. Carnival had bid $3.75 a share. NCL Chairman Kristian Siem, a major shareholder, said the Norwegian line was considering filing complaints with U.S. and Norwegian regulators about Star’s handling of the takeover.