Switzerland's Kuoni Travel Group says it has sold its tour and travel operations in the Swiss, UK, Scandinavia/Finland, and Benelux markets, to DER Touristik, the travel division of Germany's REWE Group. The value of the transaction, which includes Swedish charter specialist Novair (Stockholm Arlanda), the Playitas family, and a sports resort on Fuerteventura, has not been revealed though estimates have put it at around CHF125 million (USD133.8 million).
Kuoni Group announced in January this year that it would be exiting the traditional tour operator business in order to focus on its core business as a service provider to the global travel industry and governments. With the disposal, the Swiss company now consists of three divisions including Global Travel Distribution (GTD), Global Travel Services (GTS), and VFS Global.
The acquisition is subject to the approval by the relevant competition authorities in the EU and Switzerland and does not include the Swiss group’s tour operators in Hong Kong/China and India, which are to be sold separately.
Overall, the sale is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.
