Star, Carnival Oust NCL Board, Appoint Lund

Star Cruises and Carnival Corp. tightened their grip on NCL Holding today (Feb. 4) by ousting the board and appointing Norwegian lawyer Ole Lund as the new chairman. Lund, who is also chairman of state oil firm Statoil, will head a new six-strong board for NCL. Star and Carnival now control about two thirds of NCL stock under a joint 35 crowns per share offer valuing NCL stock at about $1.1 billion. In addition, the two companies will assume NCL debts of about $800 million. NCL's outgoing board on Feb. 3 gave up efforts to encourage further bids and urged shareholders to accept the 35 crowns offer. It had rejected 35 crowns as too low when Star first launched its takeover bid in December.