Thomas Cook India Says Have No Correlation With Thomas Cook UK

Thomas Cook bankruptcy: Thomas Cook India shares fell as much as 9.26 per cent to Rs 142 on a day when Sensex and Nifty surged over 3 per cent despite the company saying that it has no relation with the Thomas Cook UK. Thomas Cook Group Plc collapsed under a pile of debt after talks with creditors failed, forcing the British government to hire charter planes to bring thousands of the 178-year-old travel company's customers back home. Thomas Cook India's Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon in an exchange filing on Saturday said that it is a completely separate entity from Thomas Cook UK post acquisition in 2012 by Canada based Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Mr Menon added that the media updates on Thomas Cook UK have no correlation and hence no impact on Thomas Cook India.

"Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. was acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings via a 77 per cent stake in 2012. Thomas Cook UK has had no stake in Thomas Cook (India) Limited since then," Mr Menon said in a statement.

Thomas Cook UK filed for administration early Monday after eleventh-hour negotiations to raise additional funding failed to result in a deal. The move saw all bookings, flights and holidays with Thomas Cook cancelled, sparking panic online among travellers. In what it called the "largest repatriation in peacetime history," the government said it would work to return all those booked to come back to the U.K. over the next two weeks free of cost.

"With the recent developments relating to the iconic British Travel Company, Thomas Cook PLC, being reported in the media, it is imperative to highlight that Thomas Cook India Group is a completely different entity since August 2012 when it was acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings (Fairfax), a Canada based multinational with varied interests across the globe as well as in India," Mr Menon added.

On a standalone basis, Thomas Cook India is debt free upon pre-payment of Rs. 67 crore debenture obligations ahead of schedule. This has been made possible using stable and strong cash flows that the Thomas Cook India Group is generating year over year, Thomas Cook India said.

As of 11:34 am, Thomas Cook shares traded 39.3 per cent lower at Rs 149.80, sharply underperforming the Sensex and Nifty.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)