Thomas Cook buys Kuoni India for Rs 535 crore

Move aimed to grow inbound tours business, expand in foreign market

Fairfax-owned Thomas Cook has acquired Swiss tour operator Kuoni Group's business in India and Hong Kong for about Rs 535 crore as a part of its strategy to scale up the inbound tour business and expand in foreign markets. This is the company's second acquisition in a week. Last week, it acquired Luxe Asia, a destination management company in Sri Lanka.

While travel industry sources say Thomas Cook would become the largest tour operator in both inbound and outbound segments post the deal, senior executives in the company said it was incorrect to claim the number one rank. In FY14-15, Thomas Cook reported standalone revenue of Rs 500 crore and net profit of Rs 33 crore.

In January, Kuoni Group had announced its intention to sell tour businesses in India and other parts of world to focus on online travel, destination management and visa processing services. Initially, the Swiss company planned to retain its destination management business (inbound travel) in India, but even that is being sold to Thomas Cook.

Thomas Cook will run Kuoni's business in India and Hong Kong independently and will take over its 1,800 employees and offices in both the locations.

“The Kuoni brand is licensed to the acquirer for one year in India and for five years in Hong Kong. All other brands such as SOTC, Sita and Distant Frontiers are transferred with the business,” Kuoni said.

Thomas Cook said it will finance the transaction with equity infusion, internal accruals and debt.

Kuoni was founded in 1906 and entered India in 1997 by acquiring SOTC Tours, which was one of pioneers of foreign tours in the country. Three years later, it took over Sita World Travels, a specialist in inbound tours. Sita is said to be the largest inbound tour operators in India and with this acquisition, Thomas Cook can move up to the top rank in the inbound market, a source said.

“Also like other companies, Thomas Cook faces challenges from online travel companies that are growing at a fast rate. This acquisition also allows the company to face the challenge,” the source added.

“Our acquisition of Kuoni’s tour operating and retailing businesses in India & Hong Kong as well as the Indian inbound business reaffirms our belief in the India market potential, as also our strategic intent to explore viable geographies, including the larger Asia opportunity,” said Prem Watsa, chairman & CEO of Fairfax Financial Holding.

The deal gives Thomas Cook the scale and will help in better contracting and improve margins. I would expect the company to focus on high end luxury travel and Kuoni handle the mass tours business,” said Rajiv Duggal, former managing director of Kuoni India.

Source : Business Standard news

NANDA DEVI NATIONAL PARK (नन्दा देवी सुनन्दा देवी)

 The Nanda Devi National Park — a national park and Biosphere reserve protecting Nanda Devi peak and its surroundings, in the state of Uttarakhand, northern India.

It is a 630.33 square kilometres (155,760 acres) park, within the Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country (Kangchenjunga being on the border of India and Nepal).

Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks

Nestled high in West Himalaya, India’s Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya, praised by mountaineers and botanists for over a century and in Hindu mythology for much longer.

he Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks are exceptionally beautiful high-altitude West Himalayan landscapes with outstanding biodiversity. One of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the Himalayas, Nanda Devi National Park is dominated by the 7,817 m peak of Nanda Devi, India’s second highest mountain which is approached through the Rishi Ganga gorge, one of the deepest in the world. The Valley of Flowers National Park, with its gentler landscape, breath-taking beautiful meadows of alpine flowers and ease of access, complements the rugged, inaccessible, high mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi.

 Nanda Devi (Hindi: नन्दा देवी ) is the highest mountain in Uttarakhand, the second highest mountain in India, and the highest located entirely within the country (Kangchenjunga is on the border of India and Nepal); owing to this geography it was considered the highest known mountain in the world, until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808. It was also the highest mountain in India before Sikkim joined the Republic of India. It is part of the Garhwal Himalayas, and is located in the state of Uttarakhand, between the Rishiganga valley on the west and the Goriganga valley on the east. The peak, whose name means "Bliss-Giving Goddess",^[4] is regarded as the patron-goddess of the Uttarakhand Himalaya. In acknowledgment of its religious significance and for the protection of its fragile ecosystem, the peak as well as the circle of high mountains surrounding it—the Nanda Devi sanctuary—were closed to both locals and climbers in 1983. The surrounding Nanda Devi National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

Sunanda Devi (Hindi: सुनन्दा देवी) previously known as Nanda Devi East is the lower of the two adjacent peaks of the highest mountain in Uttarakhand and second highest mountain in India; Nanda Devi is its higher twin peak. Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi are part of the Garhwal Himalayas, and are located in the state of Uttarakhand. The graceful peaks of twin mountains are visible from almost everywhere in Kumaon. The first ascent to the Sunanda Devi peak in recorded history appears to be in 1939 by Jakub Bujak and Janusz Klarner. The elevation of Sunanda Devi is 7,434 m (24,390 ft) and its prominence is 260 m (850 ft).

Nanda Devi National Park lies in eastern Uttarakhand, near the Tibetan border in the Garhwal Himalaya, 300 km northeast of Delhi

Nanda Devi National Park along with the Valley of Flowers National Park are some of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the Himalayas. It is dominated by the peaks of Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi of India’s second highest mountain which is approached through the Rishiganga gorge, one of the deepest in the world. No humans live in the Park which has remained more or less intact because of its rugged inaccessibility. It has a very diverse flora and is the habitat of several endangered mammals, among them the snow leopard, serow, himalayan musk deer and bharal.

Source: internet Wikepedia / Unesco word heritage site