Viking Cruises, founded in 1997 as a private river cruise line, has made some major changes to its business. It sailed its first ocean vessels: the Viking Star in 2015 and the Viking Sea in 2016, with two more (Viking Sky and Viking Sun) on the horizon for 2017, but that is only part of the transformation. The parent company MISA Investment Ltd has announced a deal for minority investors to infuse equity into the company with plans for future growth.

TPG Capital and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) put up $500 million for a combined 17 percent stake in MISA Investments Limited, which had previously been a privately held company with financing from European banks.
A Viking spokesperson reported, “The investment of these funds will not affect Viking’s day-to-day operations; rather, the partnership will support Viking’s long-term growth plan and will allow us to expand into new markets around the world.”
Viking is “currently developing a selection of cruise products for the Chinese tourism market. We believe this is the right decision for the business, as China is the world’s biggest outbound tourism market and the number of Chinese outbound tourists is expected by industry experts to increase rapidly in the coming years.”
The first Chinese outbound product sails later this fall on the Rhine between Amsterdam and Basel.
“Our Chinese guests will sail exclusively on a vessel where Mandarin is the primary language used onboard; our other guests will continue to sail exclusively on ships where English is the primary language used onboard,” said the spokesperson.
CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments.
The changes are expected to take place in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.