Norway To Rule On Star Bid

Norway's Industry Ministry is likely to make a ruling before Feb. 4 regarding a bid by NCL's board to deny votes to Malaysia's Star Cruises. NCL, the target of a bid war between Star and U.S. giant Carnival Corp., is accusing Star of skirting the law by failing to update Norwegian authorities of its NCL share buying. Star owns 47 percent of NCL. Under Norwegian law, any firm seeking to acquire parts of a business has to notify the ministry when its stake exceeds one-third, a half and two-thirds of the stock. NCL says Star passed one-third of the stock in the ministry will determine whether NCL's travel operations in Norway were directly related to its shipping business. If so, NCL would be exempted from the law and lose its case.