The Swiss-based Kuoni group has ruled itself out of bidding for parts of Thomas Cook, saying it “would not make any sense”.
Kuoni chief executive Peter Rothwell, a former boss of rival Tui Travel, told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung there would be too few cost benefits and too many regulatory hurdles involved in taking on parts of Thomas Cook.
The troubled UK group has put its controlling stake in Thomas Cook India up for sale and is believed to be ready to sell German airline Condor as it looks to cut its debt and restructure.
Rothwell said: “For us, the German, Scandinavian and British operations of Thomas Cook would not make any sense.”
There has been no suggestion Thomas Cook is looking to divest its profitable tour operating businesses in Scandinavia or Germany or its less-profitable UK operations. Thomas Cook reported better than expected UK trading figures in February and is expected to appoint a new chief executive this month.
The denial of interest in Cook from Kuoni comes after Cook’s shares enjoyed a marked upturn last week to around 24p having been languishing at arouns 13p since they crashed after it was forced to suspend its annual results last November to seek emergency credit from its banks.