Thomas Cook bereikt akkoord over reddingsplan

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Thomas Cook bereikt akkoord over reddingsplan

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Door AFN

op woensdag 28 augustus 2019

DeZwarteRidder 28 augustus 2019 13:38

Thomas Cook agrees terms of £900m rescue deal with Fosun

Travel firm warns that Chinese investor could pull shares from London stock market

Kalyeena Makortoff
@kalyeena

Wed 28 Aug 2019 10.20 BST
Last modified on Wed 28 Aug 2019 11.34 BST

Thomas Cook holiday charter jet prepares to land on Skiathos
Fosun will inject £450m into Thomas Cook in exchange for a 75% stake in its package tour division and a 25% holding in its airline business.

Thomas Cook has confirmed the terms of a £900m rescue deal that will give the Chinese conglomerate Fosun control of its holiday business – but warned its shares may be pulled from the London stock market as a result.

The Chinese investor Fosun will inject £450m into the business in exchange for a 75% stake in its 178-year-old package tour division and a 25% holding in its airline business.

The rescue package will give the Shanghai-based Fosun another foothold in the European market, where it already owns the holiday resort chain Club Med and the Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fosun holds an 18% stake in Thomas Cook.

The travel firm’s banks and bondholders will provide the other £450m, taking the remaining stake in the tour operator and a 75% stake in the airline.

The £900m cash injection, which Thomas Cook hopes will be completed in early October, is meant to help the company avoid bankruptcy as it heads into winter, when holiday bookings are at their lowest.

However, the firm warned its new owners may cancel its publicly traded shares and take the company private. It said the deal would also significantly reduce the value of shares held by other investors.

“The current intention of the board is to maintain the company’s listing,” Thomas Cook said in a stock market announcement. “However, the implementation of the proposed recapitalisation may, in certain circumstances, result in the cancellation of the company’s listing.”

Tough competition from online rivals, as well as one-off factors such as Brexit, have weighed on the company’s recovery after its near-collapse in 2011. It has also been hit by the high prices of jet fuel and hotels pushing up costs, while last summer’s heatwave convinced European customers to stay at home, hitting earnings.

In May, Thomas Cook reported a £1.5bn loss for the first half of the financial year, mostly because of a £1.1bn cut in the estimated value of its package holiday division.

The company’s shares have been languishing at about 7p in recent weeks but fell a further 16% on Wednesday morning to only 6p.

Russ Mould, an investment director for AJ Bell, said the rescue package was bad news for regular investors. He said: “Shareholders in the troubled travel company may have to accept that their investment could be worthless.

“An update on its refinancing reveals that Chinese group Fosun and Thomas Cook’s lenders are going to get the lion’s share of the equity, meaning very little – if anything – is left on the table for the other shareholders.

“That would explain why the shares have fallen another 14% on the latest news. Investors are simply trying to cash out and crystalise any value left in their investment before the refinancing, for fear there could be nothing left if they wait.”

Some details still need to agreed between Thomas Cook, its banks, and Fosun, before a final deal can be sent to regulators and investors for approval.