SINGAPORE - Star NCLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong Limited, and Apollo Global Management on Thursday said they have launched a secondary offering of 19.5 million shares in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH).

Of these, 9.75 million shares, representing approximately a 4.26 per cent stake in NCLH, are from Star NCLC.

The shares being sold, which are priced at US$56 apiece, will be sold to Morgan Stanley, which is acting as the sole underwriter. NCLH has concurrently agreed to repurchase from Morgan Stanley the shares being sold by Apollo and Genting HK.

NCLH operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands.

The total consideration for shares being sold by Star NCLC after deduction of estimated expenses will amount to approximately US$543.6 million, Genting HK said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday (March 1) before markets opened.

The disposal is expected to result in a gain of approximately US$24.4 million, said Genting HK, representing the difference between the expected netsale proceeds and the carrying value of the shares as at Dec 31, 2017.

Taking into consideration cumulative fair value gains transferred to retained earnings on Jan 1, 2018, the total gain on disposal will be US$128.9 million, the company added.

Genting HK said it sees the offering as a good opportunity for the group to realise profits with cash inflow from partial realisation of its investment in NCLH.

It said sale proceeds from the disposal will be used as general working capital and capital expenditure for the group and/or to fund new investments should suitable opportunities arise.

With their disposals, Genting HK's stake in NCLH will shrink from 5.64 per cent to 1.41 per cent, while Apollo's will go down from 11.14 per cent to 7.02 per cent.

Trading in Genting HK shares, which were halted on Wednesday, will resume on Thursday monrning.