Ashwini Kakkar, erstwhile managing director of Thomas Cook India and director on the Worldwide Board of Thomas Cook has bought 74.9 per cent stake in Mercury Travels from Oberoi Group of Hotels (part of East India Hotels). Oberoi Group of Hotels with 25.1 per cent share will continue as a minority stake holder in Mercury Travels, a premier travel company in the country servicing the mid and high-end luxury segments for the past 60 years.

According to the new partnership, PRS Oberoi will continue as the chairman of Mercury Travels, while Kakkar will hold the post of executive vice-chairman. Commenting on the partnership, Oberoi stated, "We are delighted to partner with Kakkar to take the company to the next level. Mercury's legacy in delivering high-end service to its customers places it in an unique position to excel in the dynamic Indian travel environment."

Mercury Travels currently has 10 branch offices across India servicing various segments of travel like business travel, inbound, outbound, domestic holidays, foreign exchange, travel insurance, meeting and incentives etc. Following the new partnership, the company intends to leverage India's software strengths to build strong technology platforms for its web, call-centre and m-commerce interfaces to ensure Customer Relations Management (CRM) and superior service delivery.

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