Chinese conglomerate Fosun International said it bought a five per cent stake in British travel company Thomas Cook Group, deepening its foray into Europe’s tourism sector after buying French holidaymaker Club Med last month.

Fosun paid £91.9 million for the stake and will seek to double its holding in Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel group, to 10 per cent, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday.

One of the plans was to explore collaboration opportunities with Club Mediterranee SA (Club Med), where Fosun is looking to turn around a business struggling in Europe and move more aggressively into fast-growing markets such as China.

“The investment in Thomas Cook complements other recent investments of the group in the sector, providing opportunities for further value creation,” Fosun chairman Guo Guangchang said in the filing. He said there was “increasing demand for international leisure travel”.

Thomas Cook said the deal would help accelerate plans to develop more specialised hotels and, over the medium term, it would open up the Chinese tourism market to the company as the pair develop hotel brands tailored to the Chinese market.

Fosun’s purchase, in the form of a new share issuance at 125.59 pence a share, is being undertaken by Fosun’s subsidiary Companhia de Seguros. The price represents a 4.1 per cent premium to Thomas Cook’s closing price on Thursday.

Thomas Cook is in the middle of a cost-saving plan, but aims to grow this year despite facing tough trading conditions in mainland Europe. It made a loss of around $80 million in the three months to December 31 last year.

Fosun’s bid for Club Med which valued the firm at around $1.15 billion, was finalised in early February.