Thomas Cook Endangered By Arcandor Failure

That venerable travel agent, currency trader, and stalwart of the American traveler is 52% owned by German retailer Arcandor and Arcandor is pleading with the German government for bail-out money to avoid imminent bankruptcy.

Thomas Cook says that they can survive if they are separated out from under the Arcandor umbrella of companies but there is no assurance that Arcandor will not use its majority ownership of Thomas Cook as a method of raising some necessary cash.

Even if Thomas Cook survives the Arcandor debacle the possibility that Thomas Cook will find itself in bed with an unknown partner is very real.

"There is the potential for a Middle-Eastern partner to purchase the majority shares" stated an Arcandor director. This may pose something of a problem in the day-to-day operation of Thomas Cook whose services have formerly been linked to the activities of Deak International who sold all of its currency trading to Thomas Cook when Deak International was divided into two companies.

Deak International was founded by Nicholas Deak, a former CIA/OSS operative of some repute, who transformed Deak International into a CIA slush fund controlling millions of dollars worth of gold bullion which was used for under-the-table funding of CIA covert actions and to pay double-agents and defectors.

The gold bullion sales and storage part of the Company was sold privately and Thomas Cook purchased the currency trading part of the company. The problem is that many of the same CIA personnel held accounts in both parts of Deak International. Thomas Cook, by default, became the international arm for currency access for CIA agents which continues to this day. Sphere: Related Content