Thomas Cook shares surge 16% on Fosun deal

Shares in Thomas Cook Group surged in London trade on 6 March, on news that the travel group had sold a stake to a Chinese conglomerate looking to bolster its presence in the European holiday market.

Shares in the British travel group were trading 14.51% higher at 9.02am, after rising 16.17% in early Friday trade, following news that it had sold a 5% stake to Chinese investment group Fosun International for £91.8m (€126.9m, $139.7m).

Fosun made the purchase through subsidiary Fidelidade-Companhia de Seguros, the largest insurance company in Portugal.

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel group, also said that Club Med-owner Fosun will seek to double its holding to 10% through the purchase of "further Thomas Cook shares on the open market".

Thomas Cook said in a statement: "...the partnership with Fosun represents an attractive opportunity to deliver significant benefits to Thomas Cook's customers, staff and shareholders, including...the acceleration of Thomas Cook's product strategy, for example through the further development of its exclusive Concept hotels across its key destination markets...[and] access, over the medium term, to the fast-growing Chinese tourism market in partnership with a company with significant experience in Chinese leisure and tourism.

"Assuming the plans under the partnership are implemented in 2015, the Board of Thomas Cook expects the proposed initiatives to deliver sufficient profit to be earnings accretive in the financial year ended 30 September 2016."

Fosun's Executive Director and President Wang Qunbin commented: "...The investment in Thomas Cook complements our other recent investments in the sector, providing opportunities for further value creation."

Fosun's bid for Club Med, which valued the French firm at around $1.15bn, was finalised in early February.

Thomas Cook made a loss of £53m in the three months to 31 December 2014.