Thomas Cook India buys Thomas Cook brand

Chennai: Travel services major Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire the Thomas Cook brand for Rs 13.9 crore for use in India, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius markets said a senior company official.

The company signed an agreement with AlixPartners, Thomas Cook UK’s appointed Special Managers, he added.

“The brand valuation was done by our internal team and an external team. Both of them arrived at a similar value,” Debasis Nandy, President & Group Chief Financial Officer told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.

Thomas Cook (India) was previously contracted to pay an annual brand license fee of Rs 2 crore to Thomas Cook UK until 2024 for the usage of the brand.

The brand license agreement also gave TCIL the right of first refusal to acquire the brand in the event of the Thomas Cook UK Group going into liquidation before 2024.

“I didn’t think there was an option till 2024 to reduce the price further even though the right of first refusal was with our company. Waiting till 2024 would have resulted in uncertainty as the UK company was sold to a Chinese company. The assets of the UK company were being sold and cash realized to pay off its creditors. There was also the risk of the brand being sold off to somebody else, Nandy said. (IANS)

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