(Bloomberg) -- Viking Holdings Ltd. shares climbed 8.8% in the luxury cruise operator’s first trading session after an expanded initial public offering that raised $1.54 billion, a sign that the US listing revival continues to broaden.

The travel firm’s stock closed at $26.10 each on Wednesday, above its $24 IPO price. The trading gives Viking, which is best known for its art- and history-rich river tours of Europe, a market value of $11.3 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings. 

The IPO rivals Amer Sports Inc. as the largest in the US this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. If Viking’s underwriters exercise their over-allotment option, the offering will top Amer Sports’ $1.57 billion first-time share sale in January.

Viking’s successful debut is another signal that the IPO market has turned the corner after two years of malaise. Companies have raised $15.2 billion on US exchanges in the year to date, more than three times as much as in the same period a year earlier.

Read More: Kid-Free Cruises Create $5 Billion Fortune for Viking’s CEO

Private equity firm TPG Inc. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board sold about 53 million shares Tuesday, above a previous target which had already been raised previously. Viking itself sold 11 million shares. The shares were marketed for $21 to $25 each.

Publicly Traded Peers

Bermuda-based Viking is joining its publicly traded peers Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Royal Caribbean, the largest of them with a market value of about $37 billion, is the only one of the three whose shares have climbed back to where they started before the coronavirus pandemic.

“In 2024, we’re 89% full. For 2025, we are already now 34% filled and that is 40% more than we were for 2024 at the same time a year ago,” Viking’s founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Torstein Hagen, said in an interview. “All indications are that the product we have is very well suited to our target group.”

While the company has expanded beyond its original tours of rivers such as the Danube and the Rhine, it continues to cater to older, wealthier travelers seeking “more than just a vacation,” Hagen said in the company’s prospectus. Viking is focused on English-speaking travelers aged 55 years old and over. “We do not try to be all things to all people, which is why we only offer a single-language experience on board our ships; there are no casinos; and children under 18 are not allowed,” he said.

Read More: Viking’s Growth, Profit Potential Cruise Alongside Public Rivals

In 2022, Viking reported a profit of $399 million on $3.2 billion of revenue, which rose sharply compared to the previous two years as the pandemic ebbed. Last year, the company lost $1.8 billion as revenue grew to $4.7 billion. The filings show adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortization of $1.09 billion for 2023, which included a gain of about $2 billion from the re-measurement of derivatives associated with preference shares that were set to convert with the IPO.

Torstein Hagen is set to continue to control the company with his daughter Karine Hagen, exercising 87% of the company’s voting power. TPG and CPPIB each control about 4% of votes. 

“I have no plans of ever selling our shares,” Torstein Hagen told Bloomberg News. “There are two beneficiaries in the trust, it’s my daughter and me, and none of us have any need for any money.”

Viking’s offering was led by Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS Group AG and Wells Fargo & Co. Viking’s shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VIK.

(Updated with closing share price in first and second paragraphs, Torstein Hagen interview in seventh and eleventh paragraphs.)

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