Thomas Cook came to an agreement with VAO Intourist by forming joint venture. It was announced on November 25 during the press conference. The deal will be finally closed in February 2011.
Just to remind, Thomas Cook is not the first foreign tour operator that entered Russian market. Such giants as TUI and Kuoni signed accordingly the agreements with VKO and Megapolus tours.
The deal will include only the assets of tour operating and retails travel shops of Intourist. Hotel’s business won’t be included into the agreement. For the moment, it will be enough for Thomas Cook to acquire a control packet of shares of 50.1%. British operator is ready to pay for it up to 45 million USD (10 million in cash assets and 35 million by assets of Thomas Cook). The full acquisition of Intourist is planned for 2015. “We are planning to increase the cost of the company by this time, there is no point to announce fixed price now”, explained Aleksandr Arutyunov, President of VAO Intourist. source: atorus.ru
