Virgin Voyages is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh capital just eight months after raising $550 mill from investors led by the world’s biggest asset manager, Sky News has reported.
It was thought that Virgin Voyages was in the early stages of raising a substantial sum of money from new and existing investors.
Sources said last week that it was too early to determine the scale of the planned fund raising, or the mix of debt and equity involved.
The news came just days after Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson’s commercial satellites business, said it would lay off the majority of its staff and cease operations after running out of money.
Virgin Voyages started operations in 2021 – following a 15-month delay caused by COVID-19 and operates two cruise ships – ‘Scarlet Lady’ and ‘Valiant Lady’. A third – ‘Resilient Lady’ is due to start operating next month, with a fourth, ‘Brilliant Lady’, due to be delivered later this year.
It is 20% owned by Sir Richard’s Virgin Group.
The latest talks about raising funds come just seven months after it secured $550 mill from investors led by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Bain Capital, the private equity firm, and Virgin Group also participated in that round, Sky News said.
