The board of Thomas Cook India (TCIL) has appointed Madhavan Menon as managing director of the company. Mr Menon was earlier the executive director, largely looking after the forex business.

In a slew of other decisions taken at the company board meeting, the TCIL board decided to split the company’s shares of Rs 10 each into Rs 1 per share.

The authorised share capital of the company will also be increased from Rs 20 crore to Rs 40 crore by issuing 40 crore shares of Rs 1 each. The board has decided to raise the borrowing power of the company from Rs 250 crore to Rs 500 crore. The limit for FII investment has been hiked to 49%.

Decisions by the board follow the TCIL management’s earlier announcement that it would look at three overseas acquisitions in the travel and tourism space. Shares of Thomas Cook rose 13% to Rs 729 on the BSE. Intra-day trade saw the shares hit a new high at Rs 769.

German company Thomas Cook AG’s stake in TCIL was bought over by the Dubai Investment group in December. Udayan Bose, chairman, TCIL, said, “We are delighted to appoint Mr Menon as our managing director.”

The company offers leisure travel-related services, including package tours, currency exchange and travel insurance as well as hotel and flight reservations. It has been present in India for 124 years and operates a total of 60 offices at various locations in the country.

(http://economictimes.indiatimes.com)