Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Tuesday, December 20 2022 - 00:00
AsiaNet
Royal Caribbean Group Forms a Strategic Partnership with iCON Infrastructure to Launch New Chapter of Destination Development
MIAMI, Dec. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) announced today that it has entered into a 
new partnership with iCON Infrastructure Partners VI, L.P. ("iCON VI") [1], a 
fund advised by iCON Infrastructure LLP ("iCON Infrastructure" or "iCON") to 
develop strategic cruise port infrastructure in support of Royal Caribbean 
Group's robust growth plans.

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Access to destinations continues to be of strategic importance to Royal 
Caribbean Group's core business. The proposed partnership will own, develop, 
and manage cruise terminal facilities and infrastructure in home ports and key 
ports of call. The partnership, which will be owned 90% by iCON VI and 10% by 
Royal Caribbean Group, will be managed by an independent management team with 
strategic support from Royal Caribbean Group. Both parties have committed to 
provide funding for future expansion in accordance with their percentage 
interest. 

"Our partnership with iCON is a unique opportunity to catapult us into the 
coming decades of port investments, build further financial strength, and 
provide exceptional cruising experiences, responsibly, to our guests at the 
best destinations in the world," said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, Royal 
Caribbean Group. "Over the last few years, we have developed more destinations 
than any other cruise company and this new partnership will allow us to 
implement a capital-light investment framework to accelerate the development of 
strategic destinations around the world. We selected iCON because of our shared 
strategic priorities – delivering the best experiences in the world, 
responsibly – and our shared commitment to sustainability, being a committed 
partner in each of the destinations we visit and exploring the very best 
locations around the world."

iCON is a leading independent investment group with a focus on investing in 
high-quality infrastructure assets located predominantly in North America and 
Europe, with extensive experience investing in ports and port-related 
infrastructure.

The new partnership will initially include PortMiami Terminal A, and several 
development projects in Italy, Spain, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 
partnership will also pursue additional port infrastructure developments based 
on the robust pipeline of projects as part of Royal Caribbean Group's 
destination development strategy. At closing (anticipated for the first quarter 
of 2023), Royal Caribbean Group expects to receive net cash proceeds of 
approximately $210 million. The partnership is expected to be accretive to 
earnings, ROIC, and leverage metrics and will allow Royal Caribbean Group to 
continue investing in the development of strategic infrastructure while 
supporting the goals of its Trifecta program.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Royal Caribbean Group to develop, own 
and manage a portfolio of cruise terminals in key strategic markets," said Iain 
Macleod, Managing Partner at iCON. "Through this partnership, we will provide 
world class cruise terminal infrastructure, offering cruise guests more 
opportunities to see and experience the world in partnership with the Royal 
Caribbean Group, a world class operator. In the years to come, we look forward 
to delivering new high-quality terminals, working closely with key destination 
communities and with a strong focus on sustainability."  

BofA Securities is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Royal Caribbean 
Group.

About Royal Caribbean Group: 

Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) is one of the leading cruise companies in the 
world with a global fleet of 64 ships traveling to approximately 1,000 
destinations around the world. Royal Caribbean Group is the owner and operator 
of three award-winning cruise brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity 
Cruises, and Silversea Cruises, and it is also a 50% owner of a joint venture 
that operates TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Together, the brands have an 
additional 10 ships on order as of September 30, 2022. Learn more at 
www.royalcaribbeangroup.com or www.rclinvestor.com.

About iCON:

iCON is the exclusive advisor to funds with cumulative commitments in excess of 
$8bn. iCON VI, iCON's latest flagship fund, closed fundraising in June 2022 
with $3.6bn of capital committed from over 50  investors. Investors in iCON's 
funds comprise globally recognized corporate and public pension funds, asset 
managers, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds.

iCON is a long-term investor with an extensive track record of partnering 
alongside strategic counterparties that share a similar focus on growth, 
operational excellence and sustainability. iCON advised funds invest across a 
range of infrastructure sectors including ports, transport, telecommunications, 
healthcare, water, energy generation, distribution and storage. Learn more at 
www.iconinfrastructure.com.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release relating to, among other things, our 
future performance estimates, forecasts and projections constitute 
forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 
of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited, to: statements 
regarding the impact of the Partnership on our financial performance, 
projections and balance sheet. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," 
"driving," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," 
"seek," "should," "will," "would," "considering," and similar expressions are 
intended to help identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking 
statements reflect management's current expectations, are based on judgments, 
are inherently uncertain and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other 
factors, which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to 
differ materially from the future results, performance or achievements 
expressed or implied in those forward-looking statements. Examples of these 
risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the 
following: the impact of the global incidence and continued spread of COVID-19, 
which has had and may continue to have a material adverse impact on our 
business, liquidity and results of operations, or other contagious illnesses on 
economic conditions and the travel industry in general and the financial 
position and operating results of our Company in particular, such as: 
governmental and self-imposed travel restrictions and guest cancellations; our 
ability to obtain sufficient financing, capital or revenues to satisfy 
liquidity needs, capital expenditures, debt repayments and other financing 
needs; the effectiveness of the actions we have taken to improve and address 
our liquidity needs; the impact of the economic and geopolitical environment on 
key aspects of our business including the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, 
such as the demand for cruises, passenger spending, and operating costs; 
incidents or adverse publicity concerning our ships, port facilities, land 
destinations and/or passengers or the cruise vacation industry in general; 
concerns over safety, health and security of guests and crew; our COVID-19 
protocols and any other health protocols we may develop in response to 
infectious diseases may be costly and less effective than we expect in reducing 
the risk of infection and spread of such disease on our cruise ships; further 
impairments of our goodwill, long-lived assets, equity investments and notes 
receivable; an inability to source our crew or our provisions and supplies from 
certain places; an increase in concern about the risk of illness on our ships 
or when travelling to or from our ships, all of which reduces demand; 
unavailability of ports of call; growing anti-tourism sentiments and 
environmental concerns; changes in U.S. foreign travel policy; the 
uncertainties of conducting business internationally and expanding into new 
markets and new ventures; our ability to recruit, develop and retain high 
quality personnel; changes in operating and financing costs; our indebtedness, 
any additional indebtedness we may incur and restrictions in the agreements 
governing our indebtedness that limit our flexibility in operating our 
business; the impact of foreign currency exchange rates, the impact of higher 
interest rate and fuel prices; the settlement of conversions of our convertible 
notes, if any, in shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and 
shares of our common stock, which may result in substantial dilution for our 
existing shareholders; our expectation that we will not declare or pay 
dividends on our common stock for the near future; vacation industry 
competition and changes in industry capacity and overcapacity; the risks and 
costs related to cyber security attacks, data breaches, protecting our systems 
and maintaining integrity and security of our business information, as well as 
personal data of our guests, employees and others; the impact of new or 
changing legislation and regulations (including environmental regulations) or 
governmental orders on our business; pending or threatened litigation, 
investigations and enforcement actions; the effects of weather, natural 
disasters and seasonality on our business; the impact of issues at shipyards, 
including ship delivery delays, ship cancellations or ship construction cost 
increases; shipyard unavailability; the unavailability or cost of air service; 
and uncertainties of a foreign legal system as we are not incorporated in the 
United States.

More information about factors that could affect our operating results is 
included under the caption "Risk Factors" in our most recent current report on 
Form 10-Q, as well as our other filings with the SEC, copies of which may be 
obtained by visiting our Investor Relations website at www.rclinvestor.com or 
the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the 
forward-looking statements in this release, which are based on information 
available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly 
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new 
information, future events or otherwise.

Selected Definitions

Trifecta refers to the multi-year Adjusted EBITDA per APCD, Adjusted EPS and 
ROIC goals we publicly announced in November 2022 and are seeking to achieve by 
the end of 2025. We designed this program to help us better execute and achieve 
our business goals by clearly articulating longer-term financial objectives. 
Under the Trifecta Program, we are targeting Adjusted EBITDA per APCD of at 
least $100, Adjusted EPS of at least $10, and ROIC of 13% or higher by the end 
of 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure that represents EBITDA (as defined below) 
excluding certain items that we believe adjusting for is meaningful when 
assessing our profitability on a comparative basis. Refer to Management's 
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations within 
Item 2 of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 
2022 for a discussion of items adjusted to arrive at Adjusted EBITDA.

Adjusted Earnings (Loss) per Share ("Adjusted EPS") is a non-GAAP measure that 
represents Adjusted Net Income (Loss) (as defined below) divided by weighted 
average shares outstanding or by diluted weighted average shares outstanding, 
as applicable. We believe that this non-GAAP measure is meaningful when 
assessing our performance on a comparative basis.

Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is a non-GAAP measure that represents net income 
(loss) excluding certain items that we believe adjusting for is meaningful when 
assessing our performance on a comparative basis. Refer to Management's 
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations within 
Item 2 of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 
2022, and within Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended 
December 31, 2021 for a discussion of items adjusted to arrive at Adjusted Net 
Income (Loss).

Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) is a non-GAAP measure that represents 
operating income (loss) including income (loss) from equity investments and 
income taxes but excluding certain items that we believe adjusting for is 
meaningful when assessing our operating performance on a comparative basis. 
Refer to Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition 
and Results of Operations of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter 
ended September 30, 2022 for a discussion of items adjusted to arrive at 
Adjusted Operating Income (Loss). We use this non-GAAP measure to calculate 
ROIC (as defined below).

Available Passenger Cruise Days ("APCD") is our measurement of capacity and 
represents double occupancy per cabin multiplied by the number of cruise days 
for the period, which excludes canceled cruise days and cabins not available 
for sale. We use this measure to perform capacity and rate analysis to identify 
our main non-capacity drivers that cause our cruise revenue and expenses to 
vary.

EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure that represents net income (loss) excluding (i) 
interest income; (ii) interest expense, net of interest capitalized; (iii) 
depreciation and amortization expenses; and (iv) income tax benefit or expense. 
We believe that this non-GAAP measure is meaningful when assessing our 
operating performance on a comparative basis.

Invested Capital represents the most recent five-quarter average of total debt 
(i.e., Current portion of long-term debt plus Long-term debt) plus Total 
shareholders' equity. We use this measure to calculate ROIC (as defined below).

Return on Invested Capital ("ROIC") represents Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) 
divided by Invested Capital. We believe ROIC is a meaningful measure because it 
quantifies how efficiently we generated operating income relative to the 
capital we have invested in the business. ROIC is also used as a key metric in 
our long-term incentive compensation program for our executive officers.

[1] iCON Infrastructure Partners VI ("iCON VI") comprises two parallel limited 
partnerships, iCON Infrastructure Partners VI, L.P. and iCON Infrastructure 
Partners VI-B, L.P. iCON Infrastructure Management VI Limited, the managing 
general partner of each of iCON Infrastructure Partners VI, L.P. and iCON 
Infrastructure Partners VI-B, L.P., is licensed by the Guernsey Financial 
Services Commission. iCON Infrastructure LLP ("iCON"), the investment advisor 
to the managing general partner, is regulated by the Financial Conduct 
Authority.

SOURCE  Royal Caribbean Group 

Media Contact:  Jonathon Fishman, corporatecommunications@rccl.com
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