In spite of the high level of advance speculation about the Airtours bid for First Choice, when it finally came, the value that Airtours put on the purchase was a complete surprise.
It is clear that Airtours chairman David Crossland is extremely keen that his second attempt to buy the company succeeds.
Given the short-term view that city investors take of these things, there is very little hope this bid will actually be rejected by the shareholders.
That leaves the competition authorities, both the British Office of Fair Trading and the European Union Competition Directorate, as the last line of defence for theconsumer.
Make no mistake, this bid is against the consumer’s interest and the interest of the Association of Independent Tour Operators.
Because the strange truth is as it gets easier and easier to paint a black picture of the multiples’ power, it also gets easier to sell the benefits of the small independent tour operator to holidaymakers.
All the same AITO will continue to fight to stop this take over.
It is not exactly clear who will be fighting alongside us. Disappointingly it will be neither ARTAC or Advantage, who both seem to have lost heart in this battle.
But the reason AITO continues to fight is simple: if this acquisition is allowed then the UK package-holiday business will be the most concentrated market in the UK and probably in Europe.
If one combines the effects of market share and vertical integration, the top three companies, if this goes ahead, will then have more power than their equivalents in banking, supermarkets or any other UK commercial sector.
This factor has to be very bad for the long-term health of the travel industry.
If the newly beefed up Competition Commission (the new name for the Monopolies and Mergers Commission) wants to make its mark, then surely this is a perfect opportunity in which to do so.
It chose to ban the takeover of Manchester United by BSkyB, surely the annual holidays of millions of voters is an equally sensitive matter?
We have written to the OFT with a preliminary comment and will once again be preparing a dossier to back up our case.
The OFT is already well aware of the issues, this time it must act to stop the takeover.
If it choose not to, then we really have to question whether there is any political will to challenge, in the interests of the consumer, the march of big business and shareholder power.
Paul Chandler is chairman of the Association of Independent Travel Agents