Thomas Cook acquisition

JAKARTA (JP): The Thomas Cook Group Ltd., the leading travel and financial services group, has reached an agreement with Barclays Bank PLC to acquire its travelers cheque subsidiary, Interpayment Services Ltd.

Thomas Cook announced in a release yesterday that the acquisition made it the world's largest supplier of MasterCard and Visa travelers cheques because Interpayment is the world's largest issuer of Visa travelers cheques with annual sales of US$7 billion.

The combination, the company added, created a travelers cheque business with annual sales of $16 billion or 30 percent of the global market. (vin)