Travel company Apollo wanted to discuss a purchase of Ving several weeks before the bankruptcy of British travel group Thomas Cook – but did not get the chance, according to Apollo CEO Leif Vase Larsen.

– We were refused entry into the process. It was sad that the companies were declared bankrupt, because we might have been able to buy Ving in a different way without such large losses for the state, customers or others, he tells Svenska Dagbladet.

According to Apollo, the argument for the rejection was that it was urgent, and that they did not want to risk the deal having to be tested against EU competition law.

Norwegian hotel magnate Petter Stordalen bought Ving together with venture capital firms Altor and TDR Capital. The deal was completed at the end of October.

Source: TT