Thomas Cook India Group acquires 51% stake in Digiphoto Entertainment

Travel services firm Thomas Cook India Group Monday said it has acquired a 51 percent stake in imaging solutions and services provider Digiphoto Entertainment Imaging (DEI), at an enterprise value of USD 40.6 million (Rs 289 crore).

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, it said in a statement.

"Our acquisition of DEI, a global imaging solutions and services giant, presents an opportunity to participate in an exciting new business space, adjacent to our core travel services portfolio that is both PAT and free cash accretive from day one," Thomas Cook (India) chairman and managing director Madhavan Menon said.

He added that the acquisition also presents new synergistic opportunities leveraging its travel services across 25 countries.

"We see an immediate opportunity for our outbound customers from India and Hong Kong, as well as our inbound and DMS customers across our global network.

With the growing demand for experiential travel and social sharing, DEI's partnerships with iconic attractions, theme parks, water parks and resorts will further enhance our travel services portfolio in line with our philosophy of creating long term shareholder value," he said.

DEI focuses on imaging solutions for the attractions industry with a robust end-to-end turnkey model by providing equipment, software, talent and operational expertise consultation to its business partners.

With a network of over 120 partners, DEI is present at more than 250 venues spanning over 14 countries -- Singapore, UAE, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, China,

USA, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Mauritius, Maldives, Egypt, India and Kuwait -- and has completed 3.6 million transactions in 2018.

"Our synergy with Thomas Cook India Group in the travel and tourism ecosystem strengthens DEI's position in our existing markets whilst giving us immense reach to expand. DEI is leading the digital transformation of the guest photo journey through NFC, facial recognition and other state of the art proprietary technology enabling the guest to receive and share their memories in real time.

Innovation being key to DEI's core entrepreneurial spirit with focus on long-term partnerships aligns us perfectly with the vision and ethos of Fairfax Financial Holdings," DEI founder chief executive officer and president K S Ramakrishnan said.