Thomas Cook to acquire Thailand arm's inbound biz for euros 2.5 mln

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) Thomas Cook (India) Ltd (TCIL), leading travel solutions player in India today said it will acquire the Thailand branch's inbound business, for a consideration of 2.5 million Euros, besides an annual royalty.

The acquisition will include the right to use the Thomas Cook name license in Thailand for all businesses of financial services, leisure outbound, inbound, travel management and travel insurance for a consideration of 2.5 million Euros and an annual royalty.

''These acquisitions complement our ongoing aggressive growth plans both by the organic and inorganic route. It also is in consonance with the investment objectives of Dubai Financial LLC and Dubai Investment Group. Acquisitions of this nature help us implement our growth strategy for the Thomas Cook brand,'' TCIL Chairman Udayan Bose said.

Besides, the company has also declared the share swap ratio for the LKP Forex merger, as 11:20 ratio for equity shares and 38:1 for preference shares.

The merger is subject to approval of the Bombay High Court and other authorities and is expected to be formalised by December end, 2006.

The share swap ratio is split into 11:20 (11 shares of TCIL shall be issued against 20 shares of LKP) for equity shares, and 38:1 (38 shares of TCIL shall be issued against 1 share of LKP) for preference shares.

The merger with LKP will be ''on a going concern basis'' and the company expects to have court approval by December, 2006.

The equity shares will have a lock-in for 3 years.

With the merger of LKP Forex, Thomas Cook India will spread its national footprint to 159 locations in 54 cities with combined turnover of Rs 13,000 crore and a manpower count of 2000.

Thailand will be an addition to TCIL's overseas operations of Thomas Cook Mauritius (a 100 per cent subsidiary of TCIL) and Sri Lanka.

TCIL MD Madhavan Menon said, ''These mergers will give a major fillip to our operations. It will help us take the 'Thomas Cook Experience' to more people. Additionally it will add to the efficiencies of our operations thereby strengthening our bottom line.'' Thomas Cook India offers a broad spectrum of leisure travel-related services such as package tours, currency exchange and travel insurance as well as hotel and flight reservations. It operates a total of 71 offices at various locations in the country.

Moreover, Thomas Cook India has operations in Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

The company employs around 1,300 staff and generated revenues worth Rs 142 crore in the last fiscal.

LKP Forex Ltd is a subsidiary of LKP Merchant Financing Limited, the holding company of LKP Group. It has 88 branches across 54 cities, besides G 200 strong franchisee network.

UNI RA YA VC1959