Two brands at the upper end of the cruise ship hierarchy, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises, will soon be united under the Prestige Cruise Holdings, Inc. banner as a result of the sale of Regent to private equity firm Apollo Management LP.

Apollo announced on Dec. 11th that it had agreed to acquire Minneapolis-based Carlson's Regent Seven Seas Cruises, one of the top-rated luxury cruise lines with four cruise ships, with the acquisition to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Apollo earlier this year acquired Oceania Cruises, a premium cruise line with three cruise ships, and also took a 50 percent position in Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) in August.

Apollo said that while Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises would be placed under the ownership of Prestige Cruise, NCL would remain a separate holding.

The chairman and CEO of Prestige will be Frank Del Rio, who has been CEO of Oceania. Apollo said Mark Conroy, president of Regent, and Bob Binder, president of Oceania, would continue to run their cruise lines and report directly to Del Rio.

"Everyone at Regent Seven Seas Cruises is delighted with the formation of this new family of companies," Regent President Conroy said in a statement. "We look forward to continued success and the use of the new financial resources available to accelerate our future growth."

Since its acquisition by Apollo, Oceania has announced plans to build two new cruise ships.