Virgin Voyages will enter the cruise industry with $700 million in equity from Bain Capital, according to sources who asked not be identified.

In addition, the company is said to have been awarded the normal export credit financing in Italy to the tune of 80 percent per ship.

As the ships are believed to cost $700 million each that means that Virgin is committing $420 million to its newbuilds, the balance being covered by the export financing.

This in turns means that Virgin will have $280 million in the bank to cover its start up and operating costs.