Sawiris Acquires Thomas Cook Germany

Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris acquired the Thomas Cook franchise in Germany through his Raiffeisen Touristik (RT) Group.

Sawiris owns 74.9 % of RT, which generates around € 3.5 billion in sales annually.

The deal will see hundreds of travel agencies move to Sawiris's RT to become one of Germany's biggest travel agencies.

The aquisition of the Thomas Cook franchise caused a delight in Switzerland, after Sawiris planned to put the village of Andermatt in the Swiss Alps Valley on the world tourism map, according to the British newspaper "Telegraph".

Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris reinvented the Swiss resort, the Telegraph added.

In the past few months, the world's oldest tourism company, Thomas Cook, and several of its subsidiaries have declared bankruptcy, and since then, major sales and acquisitions have been in full swing, the paper noted.

Sawiris also owns one-third of shares in the FTI group, one of the fourth largest tour operator in Europe, after holding a partial partnership three years earlier.

Sawiris is looking to expand further into the tourism industry as his company Orascom, which is associated with the development of the hotel and tourism sector. Orascom owns 35 hotels in Egypt, the UAE, Oman and Switzerland and plans to expand in Montenegro and Morocco.