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DRChoksey Report
Here are the 10 things to know before investing
1. Waterways Leisure Tourism Ltd., operating under the Cordelia Cruises brand will lanch its initial public offering (IPO) today and the offer closes for subscription on June 25.
2. The domestic ocean cruise operator has fixed the price band between Rs 769 and Rs 808 per share.
3. The Waterways Leisure Tourism IPO is a book build issue of Rs 585 crore. It comprises a fresh issue of over 72 lakh shares.
4. To participate in the IPO, retail investors need to bid for a single lot size of 18 shares, requiring an investment of Rs 14,544.
5. Centrum Broking Ltd. is the book running lead manager and MUFG Intime India Pvt. is the registrar of the issue.
6. The shares of the company are scheduled to list on the BSE and NSE on July 1.
7. Strengths
- Only domestic ocean cruise operator in India with ~79% market share in value terms (FY25), creating a de facto monopoly in a nascent category
- Structural moat from Indian port weight restrictions (100,000-tonne limit) that physically prevents most global cruise liners from operating domestic routes
- Foreign-listed cruise companies face structural tax disadvantages entering the Indian market, reinforcing Cordelia's competitive position
- Diversified demand base across leisure, MICE, destination weddings, schools, and corporates reduces single-segment concentration risk
- Seasoned management team with deep cruise industry experience under CEO Jurgen Bailom, a veteran of Royal Caribbean and global cruise operations
- Improving unit economics with APD rising from Rs 10,524 (FY24) to Rs 12,036 (FY26) and fuel costs per PCD declining from Rs 1,729 to Rs 1,480
8. About Waterways Leisure Tourism
Waterways Leisure Tourism, operating under the Cordelia Cruises brand, is India's only domestic ocean cruise operator, offering multi-day itineraries along the Indian coastline and neighbouring international destinations aboard its vessel MV Empress, a 2,005-guest capacity ship with 796 cabins.
Incorporated in 2020 and operational since September 2021, the company has rapidly established itself as the category creator in Indian ocean cruising, commanding approximately 79% market share in value terms as of FY25. Its customer base spans leisure travellers, MICE corporates, destination weddings, and school groups, a diversified demand mix that has supported average ticket prices of Rs 10,980 per passenger and revenue per passenger per day (APD) of Rs 12,036 in FY26.
9. Key Risk:
Single-vessel dependency until Q3FY27 with no operational fallback, ageing new vessels (23-25 years old) carrying fixed charter obligations of ~$16 million. per ship per annum regardless of utilisation, untested simultaneous ramp of two ships into an underpenetrated market, Rs 480 crore of IPO proceeds flowing to a promoter-group IFSC entity via a related party lease structure, and Ebitda margin compression from 36% to 20% in FY26 with recovery contingent entirely on fleet execution.
10. Valuation:
At the upper end of the price band (Rs 808), the issue implies a post-money market capitalisation of Rs 5,850 crore. and an enterprise value of Rs 5,946 crore, translating to TTM EV/Ebitda of 50.6x on FY26 financials (post-issue diluted). These multiples are optically distorted by FY26 being a transition year with compressed Ebitda of Rs 117 crore (19% margin); on FY25 peak earnings the implied EV/Ebitda is 27.6x.
The issue is priced at 8.9x post-IPO book value. With no direct listed Indian peer, valuation benchmarks against Wonderla Holidays (20-25x EV/EBITDA) and premium hotel operators (15-20x), though neither captures the operating leverage of a cruise platform at fleet inflection.
The re-rating case rests on FY28E forward multiples, contingent on Norwegian Sky's load factor ramp post-delivery.
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