Viking, one of the best-known names in cruising, is preparing to go public and has filed preliminary papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public stock offering, with no date or details yet set.
Viking is the second-largest privately-held cruise operation, behind only MSC. It is 77% owned by founder Torstein Hagen, who started the company in 1997 with four used river ships.
The remaining 23% is owned by two investment groups who bought in in 2016. They are TPG Capital and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board; together they paid $627 million for their share and invested an additional $500 million in 2020.
Viking Holdings Ltd. is the entity that is filing; it is the corporate parent of Viking’s three divisions that operate river, ocean and expedition cruises. The company’s river ships are registered in Switzerland, where its headquarters is registered while its ocean-going vessels are registered in Norway. Viking’s marketing headquarters is located in the Los Angeles area.
