NCL Aims To Block Star Bid

NCL Holding plans to block a takeover bid from Star Cruises, accusing it of skirting the law and buying NCL shares. Officials of NCL, which is the target of a bid war between Star and Carnival Corp., said Star could not wield its 47 percent stake in NCL at a key shareholders' meeting because the company failed to update Norwegian authorities about its share buying. Under Norwegian law, any firm seeking to acquire parts of a Norwegian business has to notify the Industry Ministry when its stake exceeds one-third, a half and two-thirds of the stock. NCL said Star passed one-third of the stock in December without informing the ministry. Star argues that NCL is a shipping company and so is exempted from the notification requirement.