Monday, July 15, 2019

Thomas Cook Group Vs Thomas Cook India Ltd :

Below mentioned is the whatsapp message that I got early in the morning.


As you would see, this is a forwarded message. When many Indian companies - especially NBFC's are blowing up, such a message is bound to create panic and chaos in the market. The news message doesnot clarify if it is Thomas Cook shares listed in UK, Germany or India. And beyond that many would wonder if all these 3 listed companies are related, with cross holdings.

The fact is UK based Thomas Cook Group Plc has sold its entire 77% stake, then pledged with RBS to Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited - owned by Mr.Prem Watsa - Toronto based Indian. The clarity on how long Thomas Cook India can used the brand name is not clearly known. But there is no connection with Thomas Cook Group Plc which has crashed in UK and Germany.


Though the share price of Thomas Cook India ltd has fallen due to its performance, it has got nothing to do with the liabilities of Thomas Cook Group Plc ,

Below mentioned is the history of THOMAS COOK (INDIA) LTD. (THOMASCOOK) could calm the nerves of Investors:
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) is the leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange Corporate Travel MICE Leisure Travel Insurance Visa & Passport services and E-Business. 
The Thomas Cook India Group spanning 24 countries across 4 continents operates leading B2C and B2B brands including Thomas Cook SOTC TCI SITA Asian Trails Allied T Pro Australian Tours Management Desert Adventures Travel Circle International Limited Private Safaris East & South Africa. The Group is today one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd was incorporated as Thomas Cook (India) Pvt Ltd on October 21 1978. The name of the company was changed to Thomas Cook (India) Ltd on March 07 1979. 
The company was originally promoted by Thomas Cook Group Ltd the history of which can be traced back to the founder Thomas Cook. He commenced business in the United Kingdom in 1841 which included organizing group tours called Cook's Tours.
In accordance with the permission granted by RBI Thomas Cook Overseas Ltd transferred their business in India to the company as a going concern with effect from November 01 1978. 
In the year 1994 the company transferred their cargo business to their subsidiary company. 
The company set up a Leisure Travel department to promote domestic and outbound holiday travel within India and to others parts of the world. 
In the year 1996 the company opened a foreign exchange office at Jallandhar in Punjab and foreign exchange counter at Kolkata International Airport. 
They also inaugurated full-fledged offices at Saltlec in Calcutta and the Indian Institute of Sciences at Bangalore.
In the year 1998 the company successfully established their first ever implant with State Bank of India at Calangute in Goa. 
The company also launched Visa Travel Money Card a pre-paid ATM card which enables the traveler to withdraw local currency from more than 44000 Visa ATMs across 117 countries worldwide.
In the year 2000 the company signed the Name License and Technical Assistance agreement with Thomas Cook Holdings UK for operating in the Indian Ocean Rim region of India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan Syechelles Maldives Mauritius Myanmar and Sri Lanka etc. 
They also acquired the business of Thomas Cook's overseas business in Sri Lanka for Rs 2.74 crore. 
The company opened their second office in Mauritius at Port Louis.
In the year 2001 the company opened their leisure travel office in Panjim Goa for targeting up-market tourists. 
In June 2001 they launched India's first ever Ticket Auctions on Bidorbuyindia.com with their European tickets. 
In April 2002 Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of the company was given the corporate agency license of TATA - AIG General Insurance Company. 
In the year 2003 the company won two key new accounts from Belgium and the Netherlands for their inbound charter handling business. 
The company along with Galileo India issued the first e-ticket in India through the Global Distribution System. They issued the first remotely printed international airline ticket at the office of one of their key customers. 
In the year 2004 the company incorporated four step-down subsidiary companies during the year two each in Mauritius and Sri Lanka. 
In Mauritius the company incorporated Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Travel Ltd to undertake the business of General Sales Agent (GSA) of Airlines operating out of Mauritius while Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holidays Ltd was incorporated to undertake the Indian outbound tourist business in Mauritius. Both these companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holding Company Ltd. 
In Sri Lanka the company incorporated Thomas Cook Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd as an investment vehicle for the company's investments in Sri Lanka. This company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holding Company Ltd. 
The other company incorporated is Airline Services Lanka (Pvt) Ltd the wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd to undertake the business of General Sales Agent (GSA) of Airlines operating out of Sri Lanka. The company commenced General Sales Agency (GSA) operations through their subsidiary Airline Services Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Travel Ltd by entering into an agreement with Condor. 
In the year 2005 the company incorporated a step-down subsidiary in Thailand named as Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Thailand) Ltd and a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore named as Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd. 
Also they opened a new outlet at Union Place the prime area in Colombo for retail businesses. 
In the year 2006 the company acquired the LKP Forex Ltd and Travel Corporation (India) Ltd. 
Also they sold their 100% stake in Hindustan Cargo Ltd. In March 2006 the 
Leisure and Corporate Travel business started trading and offers inbound holidays outbound holidays and corporate travel services. 
In February 2007 the company launched their new premium holidays brand '100% Holidays'. 
In March 2007 the company and ICICI Bank launched Thomas Cook Titanium Mastercard.
In December 2007 the company signed a MOU with JTB Corp Japan in which the company able to access the JTB Corp network across 30 countries along with affiliates spreading over 800 offices. For JTB Corp the alliance provides a ready platform to enter the Indian market. 
The company closed down their operations in Thomas Cook Travel (Thailand) Ltd and Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
In the year 2008 the company made a tie up with Axis Bank for pre-paid forex card which offers exchange of upto 7 currencies. 
In October 2008 the company made a tie up with that ItzCash from the Essel group stable to facilitate online travel bookings. 
In December 2008 the company made a tie up with cruise line operator Indian Ocean Cruises of London based Foresight Smart Ventures to market the heritage cruise Ocean Odyssey in India and Mauritius.
On 21 May 2012 Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited agreed with the erstwhile promoters of the company  - UK based Thomas Cook Group Plc - to acquire 77% stake in Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) Ltd. for Rs 817.40 crore.
In February 2013 Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) acquired 74% stake in Quess Corp (previously IKYA Human Capital Solutions Private Limited) for Rs 259 crore.
In February 2014 Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. & Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Ltd. announced merger in a cash and stock deal valued at about Rs 870 crore.
On 30 July 2015 Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. announced its acquisition of Luxe Asia a Destination Management Company based in Sri Lanka through its wholly owned subsidiary Thomas Cook Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. The company will be operated as an independent entity. Thomas Cook (India)'s acquisition of Luxe Asia gives it significant presence in Sri Lanka with destination management capabilities in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean region; also synergies with its key business lines of Outbound Inbound and Corporate MICE. Based in Sri Lanka Luxe Asia is focussed primarily on inbound tourism from key global markets and services both tour operator and traveller segments across its ten destinations in the Indian Ocean Region and Asia. The 2 joint ventures of Luxe Asia include Khiri Travels a leader with over 20 years of operation in the South East Asian region; also a Destination Management Company for the UAE market.
In August 2015 Thomas Cook (India) acquired Kuoni Group's travel operations in India and Hong Kong for about Rs 535 crore.On 29 June 2017 Thomas Cook (India) announced the completion of the acquisition of a significant part of Kuoni's global Destination Management Specialists (DMS) network across 21 countries and 4 continents for about Rs 126 crore. As a part of this acquisition the Thomas Cook India Group will now include leading Destination Management Specialists (DMS) like Asian Trails (APAC) Desert Adventures (MENA) ATM-Australian Tours Management (Australia) Allied T Pro (North America) Private Safaris (Eastern Africa) and Private Safaris (Southern Africa) under its network creating a seamless delivery capability for the group and its B2B and B2C customers across 21 countries and 4 continents. 
Post the acquisition the Thomas Cook India Group has been transformed into one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region.
In October 2017 Thomas Cook (India) concluded the acquisition of Forex and Travel businesses of Tata Capital for about Rs 15 crore.
In March 2018 Quess Corp was re-classified as an associate of the company.
The Board of Directors of Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) at its meeting held on 23 April 2018 approved (subject to regulatory approvals) a corporate restructuring exercise by way of a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation aimed at streamlining its businesses into four key verticals namely: 
o Travel (outbound domestic business travel & MICE) 
o Foreign Exchange Destination Management Services and 
o Portfolio Investments such as Sterling Holiday Resorts Ltd. 
o The restructuring also involves the consolidating of the human resource services business into Quess Corp. 
Pursuant to the composite scheme TCIL shareholders will receive 1889 equity shares of Quess (of Rs 10 each) for every 10000 equity shares (of Rs 1 each) held in TCIL. 
The proposed restructuring is aimed at simplifying & clarifying structure & holdings streamlining businesses & resources ensuring focused management consolidating real estate and also various brands acquired through inorganic growth & eliminating cross holdings. The proposed restructuring also recognises that the nature of markets challenges competition opportunities for the human resource businesses are distinct and separate from the travel & travel related businesses and each are capable of attracting a different set of investors strategic partners and stakeholders.

1 comment:

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