Thomas Cook is reportedly on the verge of being sold to a Polish online travel agent.
The brand’s owner, Fosun Tourism Group, is in advanced negotiations with eSky, according to Sky News.
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook declined to comment when contacted by Travel Weekly.
After Thomas Cook’s collapse in 2019, it was acquired by China’s Fosun for £11 million and relaunched as an online travel agent.
Sky News reported on January 15 that Fosun was in “advanced negotiations” to sell the brand to eSky, which is majority-owned by private equity firm MCI Capital. The firm focuses on central and eastern Europe.
City sources told Sky News that talks on a potential sale had been ongoing for some time and could conclude in the coming weeks.
ESky was also reported to be looking at acquisitions “to establish our position on a global scale”.
An ESky spokesperson told Travel Weekly: “We are currently looking at several companies and constantly holding discussions and analysing their operations. We will communicate the status of our progress with the market in due course.”
The last set of financial results for Fosun Tourism Group published in October covering the first three quarters of 2023 concentrates on an improved performance by Club Med and “other services” with no mention of Thomas Cook by name.
Fosun said: “Benefitting from the growth of core business, the unaudited profit attributable to equity holders of the company achieved a turnaround in the first three quarters of 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.
“With the full recovery of global tourism market, the global business of the group has retained a positive momentum.”
The group entered into an equity transfer agreement with Goldman Sachs Group in May 2023 to sell the Casa Cook and Cook’s Club brands and “related overseas businesses”, aiming to optimise its business portfolio and focus resources on the development of the group’s core business, Fosun’s report for the first half of 2023 said.
The report added: “In the first half of 2023, benefiting from the brand’s organic strength and high demand for post-Covid travel, it realised a year-on-year improvement in gross profit margin during the reporting period.
“In the first half of 2023, Thomas Cook achieved the improvement in profitability through optimising operational efficiency.
“Strong momentum in summer bookings continued throughout July as families in the UK booked last-minute beach and city breaks despite the economic backdrop of high inflation.
“Thomas Cook’s UK business, as well as its operations in Europe, have continued to invest in their digital platform with a greater focus on higher-margin hotels and long-haul holidays.”