WSJournal. IPO Wave Kicks Off With Trio of MLPs

NEW YORK—The market for initial public offerings is picking up where it left off last year, ushering in a spate of high-yielding offerings as the first deals of 2013 arrive.

Among the coming week's debutants are a trio of energy-tied master-limited partnerships and a cruise-line operator.

Cruise-line operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings on Friday will look to launch its deal, worth as much as $423 million. Shares will float on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol NCLH.

Fourteen IPOs from master-limited partnerships raised $4.9 billion in 2012, the most by deal count and dollar amount since 2009, according to Dealogic. Eight of those came in the final months of the year, representing nearly one-third of all IPOs during that stretch.

The pace of such IPOs is unlikely to slow, bankers and investors say, primarily because the instruments generate yields investors crave. The average master-limited partnership, or MLP, on the market pays an annual dividend yield of more than 6%, topping most dividend-paying stocks and rivaling high-yield bonds.

MLPs generally own oil-and-gas infrastructure, like pipelines, and pay out nearly all their cash flow in distributions.

First up, in what would be the year's first IPO, is USA Compression Partners LP, which compresses natural gas into a form that can be used to power vehicles. The Austin, Texas, company is expected to bring its IPO, worth as much as $210 million, to the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday under the ticker USAC.

The largest among the offerings comes from CVR Refining LP, which owns petroleum-refining assets. The Sugar Land, Texas, company is slated to list its offering, valued at as high as $520 million, on the NYSE on Thursday under CVRR. CVR Energy Inc., CVI +0.39% owned by activist investor Carl Icahn 's Icahn Enterprises LP, IEP +4.17% will own more than 80% of CVR Refining's units after the offering. Additionally, Icahn Enterprises indicated in the company's prospectus that it intends to purchase as much as $100 million worth of its common units.

On Friday, SunCoke Energy Partners LP is on the docket to raise as much as $284 million. Its common units are set to hit the NYSE under the symbol SXCP. SunCoke, of Lisle, Ill., owns assets tied to metallurgical coke, a raw material used in steelmaking, which it supplies primarily to AK Steel Holding Corp. AKS -2.35% and ArcelorMittal SA MT -1.33% under long-term contracts.

Strong demand for MLPs has prompted issuers to "test the limits and push into areas that are not traditional," said Jason Lioon, principal at Diversified Trust in Atlanta, a $4.5 billion investment-management firm that counts MLPs among its investments. "Investors can't just buy an MLP and assume that they're getting the same thing that they've gotten in the past."

Also on tap is a deal from cruise-line operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., which on Friday will look to launch its deal, worth as much as $423 million. Shares will float on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol NCLH.

Miami-based Norwegian is expected to capture 7.6% of the global passenger market in 2013, according to industry tracker Cruise Market Watch, behind only Carnival Corp. CCL -0.30% and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL -0.62% It is known for its so-called "freestyle cruising," which means its ships don't have set times for meals or require formal dress.

Norwegian is owned by Malaysian gambling conglomerate Genting Group 3182.KU +0.84% and by private-equity funds Apollo Global Management APO -0.26% and TPG Capital.

CyrusOne Inc., the data-center business that was split off from Cincinnati Bell Inc. CBB +2.71% last year, plans to raise as much as $297 million. The company, structured as a real-estate investment trust, owns nearly two dozen data centers and is expected to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq under CONE.