English tourism giants, Thomas Cook Group, has announced plans for the acquisition of Öger Tur, the most internationally well-known tour operators in Turkey.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Cook plans to purchase Öger Tur for 30 million Euros from the company founder Vural ÖÄŸer.Established in 1969, Öger Tur, one of Germany’s most prominent tour operators, is especially known for their sales of holiday package tours to Turkey.
Öger Tur released figures for the financial year’s close on October 31st, 2009 with transporting over 400,000 travelers and acquiring 256 million Euros in gross income and 3.3 million Euros in business profit.
After Thomas Cook compeltes the acquisition, all other firms operating under Öger Tur in Turkey, valued at 2.5 million Euros, will continue to serve unrequited as agencies and accommodation providers.
This acquisition, anticipated to create a significant synergy, is also expected to result in a drop of operational costs. With additional flights with Condor, within the firm, and the more productive use of planes as well as the overall purchase of hotels and facilities’ internal services, a savings of eight million Euro’s is anticipated, ultimately targeted for the second year of Thomas Cook’s acquisition. The Öger brand will continue to offer services to Turkey as well as other destinations from the main headquarters located in Hamburg.
The acquisition is expected to be completed by September 2010 at the latest, conditional upon an antitrust clearance from the European Commission.
