Carnival gets personal in P&O Princess fight

Carnival has refused to go quietly following the rejection of its offer by P&O Princess earlier this week.

Yesterday Carnival chairman and chief executive Micky Arison attacked the performance of P&O’s preferred merger partner Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Mr Arison said: “P&O Princess shareholders should closely examine the deliverability of the value claims of the Royal Caribbean Proposal. Since Royal Caribbean has historically under performed, is there any reason why they will improve in the future?

“We have consistently outperformed Royal Caribbean by a wide margin, whatever our size and whatever the market conditions. It’s not size that creates superior operating margins — it’s management talent and proven operating practices.”

Carnival also attacked Royal Caribbean chairman and chief executive Richard Fain, claiming that since his appointment in November 1998 “the performance of Royal Caribbean has been significantly worse than that of Carnival.”

The Carnival boss again called on P&O Princess shareholders to reconsider the proposed merger with Royal Caribbean in favour of a Carnival tie-up. It claimed it can deliver better value to shareholders because it has a better management track record, resulting in higher shareholder returns; a more effective brand strategy; a proven record of delivering greater profitability and superior performance; and a significantly stronger balance sheet.

It said that a combination of Carnival and P&O Princess could deliver cost savings of at least $100 million a year.