Shanghai-based Fosun Tourism Group has acquired the Thomas Cook brand, it has announced.
The Chinese company that attempted to save the UK brand from administration said it has "entered into an agreement with Thomas Cook Group plc and certain of its subsidiaries - all in liquidation - to acquire the Thomas Cook brand, and the hotel brands Casa Cook and Cook’s Club for a total consideration of £11 million".
Thomas Cook went into administration in September when it was unable to secure an additional £200m from potential sources including the UK Government after sealing the £900m rescue deal in August with Fosun, its largest shareholder.
READ MORE: Scottish Thomas Cook stores bought by Hays Travel
Under the new agreement, the transferred assets include right, title and interest in certain trademarks, domain names, software applications, social media accounts and licenses relating to the Thomas Cook, Casa Cook, Cook’s Club brands and other related brands across most international markets.
Fosun said in a statement that "with a history of 178 years, Thomas Cook is the pioneer of modern travel and one of the most well-known tourism brands around the world".
"Casa Cook is an award-winning boutique lifestyle hotel brand with a focus on design, high-quality food and wellbeing.
"Cook’s Club is a beach hotel concept designed for a new generation of travelers, with a modern and stylish design and casual but great dining."
READ MORE: Thomas Cook told to find £200m as it tries to stave off collapse
Qian Jiannong, chairman of Fosun Tourism Group, said: “The group has always believed in the brand value of Thomas Cook.
"The acquisition of the Thomas Cook brand will enable the Group to expand its tourism business building on the extensive brand awareness of Thomas Cook and the robust growth momentum of Chinese outbound tourism.
"Meanwhile, the introduction of new hotel brands will further enrich the offering of accommodation choices for tourism destinations business by the group, diversify our resort and hotel operations and improve the Foliday ecosystem in providing customers with quality holiday experience across the globe.
"After the acquisition of certain Thomas Cook related brands, the overseas acquisition related to Thomas Cook will come to an end for the time being. Following the acquisition, the group will focus on business expansion, using the newly acquired Thomas Cook brands to create synergies with the existing businesses of the group.”
Fitbit is being acquired by Google's parent company for about $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion).
The deal enables the internet company to step back into the hotly contested market for smartwatches and health and fitness trackers.
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A pioneer in wearable technology, Fibit's market capitalisation soared to just under $10 billion after becoming a public company in 2015 but its value this week is well below two billion dollars.
Google has struggled to stake out a presence in the wearables market - its earlier foray into smartwatches that used its Android Wear software has largely faded.
This deal could give it more of an opportunity to compete with the Apple Watch.
"Google doesn't want to be left out of the party," said analyst Daniel Ives, of Wedbush Securities.
"If you look at what Apple has done with wearables, it is a missing piece of the puzzle for Google."
When speculation of a potential buyout by Google grew earlier this week, Fitbit shares soared almost 30%.
The stock jumped another 17% at the opening bell on Friday.
Alphabet said it will pay $7.35 per share for the company, which were trading at $7.20 dollars each after the deal was announced.
"With Google's resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone," Fitbit co-founder and chief executive James Park said in a statement.
Fitbit has 28 million active users worldwide and has sold more than 100 million devices.
Marks and Spencer is set to unveil difficult figures in its clothing and home divisions when it announces half-year results on Wednesday.
M&S told analysts said its turnaround of clothing is now 18 months behind schedule and admitted problems remain.
READ MORE: CalMac Ferries hails huge profits hike after year of record passenger numbers
As a result, consensus among analysts is that non-food sales will fall around 7% - or 4.3% on a like for like basis when store closures have been stripped out.
M&S has been keen to focus on its food division - especially in preparation for the launch of online food services via its deal with Ocado.
Analysts predict food sales will fall 0.1% - or rise 0.3% on a like for like basis - but because profit margins tend to be higher on clothing than food, underlying pretax profits for the period are set to fall by around 25% to £176 million.
On a statutory basis, when one off costs are included, profits are expected to rise, due to the heavy spending last year on the store closure programme.
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