Le Monde | • Updated | By
Guo Guangchang decidedly placing on the recovery of the great names of tourism in Europe. After taking control of Club Méditerranée, after a grueling takeover battle, the Chinese billionaire announced Friday, March 6, entered the capital of another company in the sector, also in bad shape, Thomas Cook. It should become, soon, one of the largest shareholders of the British group, the world’s oldest travel company still in business.
The announcement of this alliance immediately boosted by 15% during Thomas Cook at the London Stock Exchange.
Fosun International, the conglomerate controlled by “chairman Guo,” said Friday it has reached an agreement to acquire Thomas Cook 4.8% stake in the part of a capital increase.
The operation will cost 91.9 million pounds, or 127 million euros. It’s Companhia de Seguros Fidelidade-a Portuguese insurance company subsidiary of Fosun, which will carry out the investment
Read also:. Europe, prime target of China
ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT ON THE CHINESE MARKET
Secondly, Fosun intends to purchase additional shares on the market to go up to 10% futures capital. To facilitate this rise, Thomas Cook will amend its articles, and raise the bar which currently limits to 40% the proportion of shareholders outside the European Economic Area.
Once 10% Fosun should be one of the two main shareholders of Thomas Cook. The capital of the British group is now very fragmented. The largest shareholder, the US fund Invesco, control 16% in the final score, while the second, Standard Life, holds 8%.
Guo Guangchang does not consider this investment as a pure financial investment. As with Club Med, which Fosun was initially a minority shareholder, the injection of capital doubles as a “strategic partnership”, to accelerate the development of Thomas Cook, including the very crucial Chinese market.
Like many other historical tourism stakeholders, Thomas Cook, a group founded in the mid-nineteenth th century, has suffered in recent years of the revolution brought about by the Internet, which has ravaged the classical economic model of travel agencies. Number two in Europe behind TUI Travel, Thomas Cook has chained the years of loss.
JOINT PROJECTS IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY
Under the leadership of its previous ruling, Harriet Green, the company has initiated a vigorous recovery plan, marked by a recapitalization, refocusing, the loss of thousands of jobs and many agencies, not to mention the launch of a more aggressive policy on the Internet.
However, the work remains unfinished, as shown in the net loss of 118 million pounds posted for 2013-2014. During the first quarter of the 2014-2015 fiscal year, completed in late December, the loss before tax reached 115 million pounds.
It is in this context that Fosun registered its intervention. To speed delivery to streams of Thomas Cook, the Shanghai conglomerate is willing to set up collaborations with other activities in tourism, the first of which obviously include the Club Med.
It could Thomas Cook also help to take advantage of the rapid growth of the market for Chinese tourists. Joint projects are also on the horizon in terms of hospitality.
No comments:
Post a Comment