On September 15, 2020, Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc announced that Carnival Corporation has filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”), under which it may offer and sell shares of its common stock, through any of its Sales Agents (the “Shares”), having an aggregate offering price of up to $1 billion from time to time through an
equity offering program (the “ATM Offering”). Carnival Corporation expects to use the net proceeds from sales of Shares under the ATM Offering for general corporate purposes. The timing of any sales will depend on a variety of factors. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Securities, Inc. and 12 other financial institutions are acting as sales agents (the “Sales Agents”) under the ATM Offering. PJT Partners is serving as independent financial advisor to Carnival Corporation.
The ATM Offering was registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, pursuant to a registration statement on Form
S-3
(File Nos.
333-322555
and
(the “Registration Statement”) filed by Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc with the Commission on March 9, 2018. The terms of the ATM Offering are described in the prospectus dated March 9, 2018, as supplemented by the prospectus supplement dated September 15, 2020.
In connection with the ATM Offering, on September 15, 2020, Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”) with the Sales Agents. The Equity Distribution Agreement contains customary representations, covenants and indemnification provisions. A copy of the Equity Distribution Agreement is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.1 to this Current Report on Form
8-K,
and the descriptions of the material terms of the Equity Distribution Agreement in this Item 8.01 are qualified in their entirety by reference to such Exhibit, which is incorporated by reference into this Current Report on Form
8-K
and the Registration Statement.
The legality opinions of Tapia, Linares y Alfaro, Maples and Calder and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, issued in connection with the ATM Offering, are attached hereto as Exhibits 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3, respectively, and are incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement.
This Current Report on Form
8-K
shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any Shares under the Equity Distribution Agreement nor shall there be any sale of such Shares in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
Cautionary Note Concerning Factors That May Affect Future Results
Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc and their respective subsidiaries are referred to collectively in this Current Report on Form
8-K,
including the Exhibits hereto (collectively, this “document”), as “Carnival Corporation & plc,” “our,” “us” and “we.” Some of the statements, estimates or projections contained in this document are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions with respect to us, including some statements concerning the financing transactions described herein, future results, operations, outlooks, plans, goals, reputation, cash flows, liquidity and other events which have not yet occurred. These statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate and the beliefs and assumptions of our management. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these statements by using words like “will,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “believe,” “depends,” “expect,” “goal,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “project,” “future,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “indicate,” “outlook,” and similar expressions of future intent or the negative of such terms.