Carnival accuses rival in merger battle
THE billionaire head of cruise liners operator Carnival has accused Royal Caribbean of providing misleading information to monopoly regulators considering the companies' rival plans to merge with Britain's P&O Princess.
Micky Arison claimed that, realising its chances of winning the bidding battle were dwindling, Royal Caribbean was trying to 'torpedo' both transactions by suggesting they would have an equal negative effect on competition.
The accusations were made in an open letter to Princess chief executive Peter Ratcliffe and came at a crucial time in the merger process, as US regulatorsare close to making a decision on whether to approve the two proposals.
Calling for Ratcliffe to take action against the rival suitor, Arison said he was shocked at the amount of 'misleading data' Royal Caribbean had used for its filings. 'We are at a loss to understand why P&O Princess would stand idly by and allow Royal Caribbean to seek to sabotage the regulatory process for both transactions, and any future cruise transactions involving the US or the EC...' Arison said.
He also accused Royal Caribbean of providing US watchdogs with copies of confidential information from the European Commission, which last week approved the Carnival deal, putting it neck-and-neck with Royal Caribbean.
Arison claims that Royal Caribbean has switched its lobbying stance to suggest regulators should take a very narrow view of the cruise liner market - one that would scupper both bids.
Royal Caribbean dismissed the claims, saying: 'We have prepared and presented our analyses of the cruise market to regulators on both sides of the Atlantic with absolute integrity at all times. We profoundly believe Carnival's bid for P&O Princess would severely constrain competition in the cruise market. No amount of bluster from Micky Arison should be allowed to conceal that reality.'
By Royal Caribbean's definition, P&O Princess's 11% share of US passenger cruise days would bring its share up to 38% but push Carnival up to 50%. US regulators see a 50% share of the market as the so-called magic number that triggers competition concerns. P&O Princess declined to comment on Arison's allegations.
