The owner of Club Med is hoping to take over the travel company Thomas Cook.
The original Thomas Cook company was set up in the 19th century in the East Midlands, by entrepreneur and cabinet maker Thomas Cook, who wanted to organise rail trips between Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Birmingham for members of the anti-alcohol temperance movement.
In it’s current form, Thomas Cook Group employs more than 21,000 people around the world.
The company has been struggling recently and last month it announced further job cuts after a fall in its share price.
Now Chinese investment company Fosun International Ltd, which owns Club Med and is currently the largest Thomas Cook shareholder, is looking to take over the 178-year-old company.
MirrorOnline reported that an offer had been received and quoted Thomas Cook Group stating that it was “in discussions with Fosun following receipt of a preliminary approach”.
The company added: "There can be no certainty that this approach will result in a formal offer.
“However, the board will consider any potential offer alongside the other strategic options that it has, with the aim of maximising value for all its stakeholders.”
The travel group was first rumoured to be considering a sale of some, or all, of its ailing business in April, after releasing two separate profit warnings in 2018.
It followed a turbulent year of falling demand for package holidays, partly blamed on the UK heatwave.
The company announced a "strategic review" of its airline business and revealed plans to close 21 high street stores at a loss of 320 jobs.
Just weeks later it emerged that investment company Fosun International - Thomas Cook’s largest shareholder, which already owns an 18 per cent stake - had expressed interest in bidding for its travel agent arm.
