Tour company takeover
July 12, 2010
German tour company Oeger Tours, which specializes in the Turkish travel market, is to become part of the Thomas Cook Group in a deal worth some 30 million euros ($38 million).
The managing director of Oeger Tours, Vural Oeger, said on Monday that he planned to sell 100 percent of the company's shares to Thomas Cook.
He insisted that the Oeger Tours brand would be maintained, along with the company headquarters in Hamburg. Vural Oeger also said he planned to remain with the business he founded 40 years ago.
Oeger said his company would work together with Thomas Cook to further develop Turkey as a tourist destination. The company is already known as a specialist in this market. Last year, Oeger Tours carried 400,000 passengers and made a profit of around 250 million euros.
Thomas Cook was founded by a British cabinet maker in 1871, and is now Europe's second largest tour operator. It maintains its headquarters in London, but is largely owned by the German Arcandor Group. Arcandor is best known in Germany for the struggling Karstadt chain of department stores.
Thomas Cook and Oeger Tours expect the deal to be completed by September.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/AFP)
Editor: Chuck Penfold