DER Touristik wants to take over rival FTI

Dusseldorf The second largest European tour operator, DER Touristik Group, which belongs to the Cologne-based Rewe Group, reaches for the Munich holiday group FTI, Europe’s number three. The negotiations are apparently at an advanced stage. The Handelsblatt learned this from several people familiar with the envisaged transaction. A US financial investor who is also interested in FTI is said to have jumped off beforehand.

Whether the transaction between DER Touristik and FTI will come about depends primarily on a possible massive haircut at FTI. Rewe circles speak of a “haircut” and name it as a prerequisite for a merger. This would also be at the expense of taxpayers, because the state jumped to the side of FTI during the pandemic with guarantees, silent participations and subordinated loans totaling more than half a billion euros.