Star Cruises Sells Two Ships To Strengthen Capital Structure

Star Cruises Group, the leading cruise line in Asia Pacific and the third largest cruise operator in the world has announced the sale of two ships.

Star Cruise has sold the Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty to the Cyprus Louis Group for US$218 million and US$162 million respectively.

The two ships will be chartered back from the new owner to complete their announced scheduled itineraries in November 2008 for Norwegian Dream and December 2009 for Norwegian Majesty.

The sale was made as part of a fleet optimization plan which is yet another step to further strengthen the Group’s capital structure

“The sale of the 2 ships will improve on the Star Cruises Group’s capital structure following on the completion of Apollo’s investment in Norwegian Cruise Line (“NCL”) in January 2008. It is expected that there will be net savings in interest expenses and the additional cash flow will provide opportunities arising in Asia for Star Cruises like our hotel and casino project in the Philippines announced on 2 April 2008.” said Mr. David Chua, President of Star Cruises.

“This transaction will also speed up the optimization plan for the upgrade of our existing fleet in Asia and the international fleet in America and Europe so as to realize our mission and promise for delivering the best quality cruising experience to our cruisers by continuously upgrading our hardware and software. In fact, we have two new ships currently under construction and will deliver 10,800 lower berths by completion in 2010. Star Cruises will continue our investment in NCL and explore opportunities for our international fleet,” added Mr. Chua.

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