Travel firms battle over First Choice

Takeover warfare broke out in Britain's holiday and travel industry yesterday

Takeover warfare broke out in Britain's holiday and travel industry yesterday. Airtours, Britain's second-largest tour operator, launched a hostile bid worth £850 million sterling for First Choice, the third-largest holiday group currently engaged to marry Kuoni of Switzerland in a £1.5 billion get-together.

First Choice owns the JWT and Falcon tour firms in Ireland, while Airtours owns Panorama Holidays. If the Airtours bid is successful, the combined irtours/First Choice group would rank as Britain's largest tour operator, commanding a market share around 30 per cent and a stock market value of nearly £3 billion sterling.

Current market leader Thomson Travel Group, which holds a market share of about 25 per cent, has said it would not stand idly by in the event of a merger of the two companies.