The acquisition of 43.5 million shares in Carnival by the Gulf state’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was disclosed in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday (6 April).
It amounts to a transaction worth in the region of $435 million according to Carnival’s share price, which closed at $10.21 on Monday.
Carnival becomes the PIF’s latest high-profile investment after investing in companies such as Oyo Hotels, Uber and Tesla.
The corporation’s brands include P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises and Holland America Line.
It last week secured more than $6 billion in debt and equity from investors to meet its cash needs over the coming months amid the coronavirus crisis, which could amount to $1 billion a month according to an earlier filing by Carnival.
This included the sale of $500 million new shares at $8 each. Carnival said it would use cash “for general corporate purposes”.
With its operations are currently paused globally, the company believes “the substantial majority” of its fleet will be in “prolonged ship layup”.
Other costs arising from the crisis include a huge refund burden as global travel restrictions result in mass cancellations, while the firm has forward commitments on a number of new ships.
