FIRST Choice has embarked on an major three-week crusade to convince shareholders to accept the Kuoni deal after revealing merger benefits of £17m.
Group managing director Peter Long and Kuoni chairman Daniel Affolter will visit institutional shareholders in the UK, Switzerland, Germany and the US. Shareholders have until July 8 to accept or reject the deal.
Sources said the operator was contacting every shareholder with more than 100 shares to drum up support.
Both companies defended the decision not to quantify the merger benefits sooner.
“The clock stopped as soon as Airtours became involved,” said Long.
“We had no intention of writing to shareholders putting out an isolated piece of information before the outcome of the investigation. It was not appropriate.”
The £17m benefits will be split over three years – £7m in year one – with 40% coming from cost savings and 60% in revenue enhancements.
Increased purchasing power, ground-handling services and aircraft maintenance will all contribute to the benefits, said Long. “These are significant benefits that will all fall to the bottom line,” he added.
Meanwhile, Airtours non-executive director Roger Davies is spearheading the operator’s case against the European Commission, which fears the market will become anti-competitive with only three major players. It will receive a statement of objections from the competition authorities in early July and will put its own case to the EC at the end of the month.