Tour operators sell shares in air traffic controller
TUI and Thomas Cook have sold their majority stakes in The Airline Group, a shareholder in UK air traffic controller NATS, for about £38 million each.
Thomas Cook, which yesterday announced the sale of its corporate foreign exchange business as well as moves to outsource its escorted tours business said the latest deal represented an important milestone in its disposal and debt reduction plan.
TUI has sold 87.4% of its stake in The Airline Group and Thomas Cook has sold 91.5% of its shareholding to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. The Airline Group owns 41.9% of NATS.
The deal is expected to complete early next year, subject to approval from the European Commission.
TUI Travel chief financial officer Will Waggott said: "Following the merger and subsequent creation of TUI Travel in 2007 our interests in Airline Group were identified as non-core.
"We are pleased to sell the majority of our interests in Airline Group and at a value that exceeds the current carrying value of the investment."
Thomas Cook group chief executive Harriet Green said: "Delivering on our previously announced commitment to realise value from non-core businesses, this sale represents an important milestone in our disposal and debt reduction plans, contributing £38 million towards our target to generate between £100 million and £150 million in gross proceeds by FY15.
"It also enables us to intensify our business focus on the further delivery of our profitable growth strategy, which we look forward to sharing in more detail in our results announcement on 28 November."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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