Viking Cruises Ltd. sold $720 million of junk bonds on Monday to refinance costly debt from the early days of the pandemic as cruise companies are broadly seeing their fortunes bounce back after the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The notes, maturing in 2031, were sold at a yield of 9.125%, lower than earlier discussions of around 9.25%, according to a person familiar with the matter. Viking is redeeming notes that had 13% coupons and were originally sold in May 2020 when Covid-19 had all but shut down the industry. Three years ago, many travel companies were looking for financing to help stay in business. Now, their fortunes have improved: cruise line operators are still seeing jumps in demand after pandemic fears have largely abated. Carnival Corp. said on Monday that its quarterly revenue more than doubled, although the company’s shares fell after results failed to keep pace with investors’ high expectations.
