Bidders diving in for Thomas Cook talks
PREDATORS have made tentative approaches to buy some or all of Thomas Cook as it works with newly-appointed company ‘doctors’ to fix its finances.
Bidders including China’s Fosun have approached the holiday firm about buying its tour operating business – and even the company outright, Sky News reported.
The takeover interest comes after Thomas Cook announced a potential sale of its Condor airline.
One insider cautioned that the approaches were ‘highly preliminary’. It was unclear whether the company would be forced to confirm the bids when the stock market opens on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Thomas Cook is understood to have hired Alix Partners, a specialist ‘company doctor’, as it tries to figure out how to manage its operations alongside its debt pile of up to £1.6billion.
Sky News also reported that some of Thomas Cook’s lenders had hired advisers from FTI Consulting amid restructuring talk.
The value of some of Thomas Cook’s bonds has dropped to less than two thirds of its original price and last week it emerged bankers had failed to sell a slice of the group’s debt after hedge funds demanded a 40 per cent discount to the loan’s original value.
Speculation is mounting that Thomas Cook may need to raise capital from investors. The company declined to comment.