TUI AG seeks JV partner for British subsidiary Marella Cruises - Royal Caribbean Group not interested
c: TUI
TUI AG IS LOOKING FOR A JOINT VENTURE PARTNER FOR ITS BRITISH CRUISE BRAND MARELLA CRUISES
“With Marella the strategy is clear. The ships must be in a separate investment vehicle. It is clear what we want to do, but not clear how we are going to do it. We are sure that we will find a solution, but it is not clear, ”says Fritz Joussen, CEO of TUI AG.
When on July 8, 2020, Fritz Joussen, CEO of Tui, announced the successful transfer of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises to the joint venture TUI Cruises - a joint venture between TUI and Royal Caribbean Group that has been operating very successfully since 2008, Joussen announced that they were planning to go to Marella To integrate cruises into the existing JV.
Richard Fain, head of the Royal Caribbean Group, whose company is also struggling with enormous losses and rising debt, gave his partner the cold shoulder.
At the presentation of the 2020 annual report(here) Fritz Joussen discussed:
TUI's effort to increase liquidity after reporting a loss of € 3 billion for the twelve months ending September 2020, saying, “We will investigate all levers. I wouldn't rule anything out. It could be a restructuring of our assets. It could be M & A [mergers and acquisitions]. "
But he insisted, “With Marella the strategy is clear. The ships must be in a separate investment vehicle. It is clear what we want to do, but not clear how we are going to do it. We are sure we will find a solution but it is not clear. "
“We will remove Marella's assets from the balance sheet. We will get our partners or new partners to finance new ships. "
He argued, “When the crisis is over, there will be enormous supply shortages in the cruise business. Old ships were scrapped. There will be demand. "
Joussen added, “We're going to reduce our exposure, take out costs and assets. But we're not going to sell fire. We're going to do things sensibly and strategically.
"We're thinking about financial structures, but this is at a less mature stage so I can't comment on that."
When asked if he would like to sell Tuis resort properties, he said: “Hotels are a little different. They have the beauty of a terminal value - unlike planes and ships.
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