White & Case Advised a Consortium of Altor, Strawberry and TDR Capital on the Acquisition of Thomas Cook Northern Europe (Vinggruppen)

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised a consortium consisting of Altor Fund V, the Strawberry Group and TDR Capital on the acquisition of the business of Thomas Cook Northern Europe (Vinggruppen).

"The deal is yet another showcase of our capabilities within distressed M&A where we yet again have shown our ability to deploy an international cross-practice team in order to deliver a complex, cross-border deal within very tight deadlines," said Stockholm-based White & Case partner Johan Steen, who led the Firm's deal team.

The transaction is structured as a business and share transfer whereby all of the current business of Thomas Cook Northern Europe is transferred into a new legal structure and the selling entities are put into bankruptcy. None of Vinggruppen's current customers or future travel will be affected by the transfer and all business and employees are expected to be transferred. 

Vinggruppen has around 2,300 employees who annually serve 1,600,000 Nordic customers through tour operators Ving, Globetrotter, Spies and Tjäreborg, the airline Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia Group, and the hotel brands Sunwing Family Resorts, Ocean Beach Club and Sunprime Hotels.

Altor is a family of private equity funds focused on investing in and developing medium sized companies. Since inception, Altor has raised approximately €8.3 billion in total commitments and invested in excess of €4.2 billion in more than 60 companies. 

The Strawberry Group consists of 11 companies operating in several business areas. The group invests mainly in real estate, finance, hotel operations and art. It also supports selected sustainable initiatives and organisations. Strawberry Group is owned by Petter A. Stordalen and family.

TDR Capital is a private equity firm, with assets under management of €8 billion, which invests in and establishes partnerships with medium-sized European companies.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partners Johan Steen and Oscar Liljeson (both Stockholm), and included partners Henrik Wireklint (Stockholm), Yoko Takagi (Madrid) and Justus Herrlinger (Hamburg), counsel Peter Svanqvist and associates Victor Åberg, Jonas Lagerroos, David Riihonen, Alexander Berlin-Jarhamn, Erik Larsson, Rebecka Tenenbaum, Pontus Grönberg, Anders Westling, Josephine Martinsson, Franziska Brüggemann (all Stockholm), Julio Peralta (Madrid), Eerika Halme, Tommi Kolehmainen (both Helsinki) and Julia Cornelius (Hamburg).

Press contact
For more information, please speak to your local media contact.