Carnival Refinances More Debt, NRG Energy Deal, Cigna Drops

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Carnival Corp. (CCL) shares are up. The company is issuing bonds for the third time this year, as the cruise operator chips away at a debt load that had ballooned during the Covid-19 pandemic. Monday’s $1 billion offering of senior unsecured notes will be used to refinance 7.625% notes maturing next year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Pricing for the new notes is being discussed in the 5.875% to 6% range, the person said.

- NRG Energy (NRG) shares hit an all time high as the company agreed to acquire a fleet of natural gas-fired power plants from LS Power Equity Advisors LLC for about $12 billion including debt, betting the fuel will be crucial to meet electricity demand from data centers. The cash-and-stock deal calls for NRG to buy 18 gas-fired facilities from LS with a combined capacity of about 13 gigawatts, the companies said Monday in a statement. That’s enough to power about 10.4 million homes.

- Cigna (CI) and other US health-care companies that own pharmacy-benefit management units are trading lower on Monday after President Donald Trump proposed a plan to “cut out” the drug-industry middlemen as a way to reduce drug costs. Meantime, House Republicans are reviving measures that would primarily prohibit “spread pricing” in the Medicaid safety net program -- where pharmacy benefit managers profit by paying pharmacies less than what they charge state Medicaid plans for a medication.

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