The German travel giant CN Touristic AG is to acquire Thomas Cook, one of Britain's best known travel agencies, in a £550 million deal, the European edition of the Wall Street Journal said this morning.
CN is expected to seek approval for the deal from its main shareholders, which include Germany's national airline Lufthansa, at the end of the week, the paper said. It added that an official announcement of the sale was expected later today.
CN would acquire 100% of Thomas Cook in an all-cash transaction, the newspaper sources said.
In late July the European Commission's competition authorities ordered Europe's number-one travel group, Preussag of Germany, to divest itself of its majority shareholding in Thomas Cook, whose red foreign exchange offices are familiar to travellers the world over.
22% of Thomas Cook is owned by the US group Carlson, which also has a right of first refusal over the 78% controlled by Preussag.
