Norwegian Cruise Line’s IPO will not take place any time soon, according to company President and CEO Kevin Sheehan, who cleared up recent confusion by saying that all that has happened is that the cruise line filed an amendment to its recent IPO filing. The company recently withdrew its original S-1 registration from last October for a new filing. Sheehan said that an IPO will happen when market conditions are right and that they are not suitable at the moment, noting that both Carnival and Royal Caribbean were trading at discounts to their historical values. Norwegian is still looking to raise $250 million most of which has been earmarked for paying down debt.  

As of March 31, 2011, Norwegian’s balance sheet listed assets of approximately $5.5 billion, including cash and property, total debt of about $3.8 billion and shareholder equity of $1.7 billion.

Meanwhile, Sheehan said Norwegian will be reporting a strong Q3 and that the company is doing well in the Mediterranean despite widespread discounting.

In related developments, Norwegian has also filed a new F-4 allowing note holders to exchange their existing notes, limited to institutional investors, for new notes, available to non-institutional investors as well. The terms remain the same and the 9.50 percent notes mature in 2018.