Thomas Cook confirms offer for its Nordic business
Shares in Thomas Cook rose almost 7% yesterday following confirmation it has received a bid for its northern European division.
The operator confirmed private equity firm Triton Partners has put forward a ‘highly preliminary and unsolicited indicative offer’ for the group’s airline and tour operator business in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, which accounts for about 17% of the company’s revenues.
The group’s Nordic operations trade under the brands Ving, Tjareborg and Spies.
Thomas Cook added: "The group is currently evaluating this offer alongside the ongoing strategic review of its group airline, announced in February 2019."
The Daily Telegraph reports German-Swedish fund manager Triton recently bought continental travel agent Sunweb.
Thomas Cook said there was ‘no certainty’ a deal would be completed, but shares rose 7%, recouping morning losses that occurred as a result of the credit downgrade.
The bid follows a turbulent week for Thomas Cook, which saw its share price fell nearly 40% following a profit warning last week after the company posted a lost of £1.45bn in the six months to the end of March.
As a result, its equity was rated at zero by analysts from investment bank Citi.
Yesterday, the company’s share price dropped by nearly 6% after its was downgraded by two ratings agencies.
Both Fitch and S&P Global both cut the operator’s rating from a B rank to CCC+.
The CCC+ rating ‘generally denotes that a firm is operating with substantial risks,’ according to City AM.
Fitch said it feared Thomas Cook would have insufficient liquidity at the end of 2019 if it is not able to use the £300m emergency funding from its lenders.
It added the group’s debt structure ‘provides it will little financial flexibility and leaves insufficient funds to develop the higher-margin own-hotel concepts and its online platform.’
Meanwhile, Travel Counsellors founder David Speakman advised people not to book with Thomas Cook after its credit rating was downgraded.
In a tweet yesterday, the former Travel Counsellors chairman said: "This morning agencies downgraded credit rating of Thomas Cook. I fear for Cooks staff but my loyalty has to be with customers.
"My advice would be not to book."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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